The Fairytale Curse
by Ariza Luca
Summary: Once upon a time, there were fairies and witches and humans, and fairytales were written about them. Once upon a time, there was the Fairytale Curse, which took the fairytales and turned them from stories of joy and triumph to despair and havoc. Once upon a time, there were four heroes known as the Order of the Stone. And once upon a time, there was a girl named Jesse.
1. The Fairytale Curse

_Once upon a time, there was a land with three species- humans, witches, and fairies. The fairies were in charge of keeping control of the light, spreading creation, love, and help, while the witches were in charge of managing darkness, spreading destruction, hate, and pain. Despite their two incredibly different tasks, the fairies and the witches were good friends and two species worked together to maintain the natural balance that the world had to remain in, allowing all three species to live in harmony._

 _However, one day a human storyteller came to the land, seeking to bring stories to entertain the people. He requested that he be allowed to write stories with fairies, witches, and humans alike. The fairies and the witches were more wary of this offer than the humans, but seeing no malice in his intentions, they granted the stranger permission._

 _The storyteller wrote stories about brave human heroes, their fairy godparents or fairy forces, as good and righteous people. And he wrote of the forces of evil that threatened these good and righteous forces, of witches and their magic._

 _Over time, the humans grew to be afraid of the witches, and began to fight the witches and destroy them all. The witches, at first, were surprised and frightened at this new way of treatment, before they grew angry and fought back, releasing a foul creature known as the Ender Dragon to destroy the land._

 _Only troubled lands have need of heroes, and soon, four heroes came to help the people of this land, to defeat this creature. Four heroes known together as the ORDER OF THE STONE._

 _GABRIEL the Warrior, before whose mighty sword all combatants would tremble._

 _ELLEGAARD the Redstone Engineer, whose inventions sparked an era of invention._

 _MAGNUS the Rogue, who would channel his destructive creativity for the benefit of all._

 _And SOREN the Architect, builder of worlds and leader of the Order of the Stone._

 _These FOUR friends worked so hard to claim their rightful place as FOUR heroes, banding together along with a few witches who wished to return peace to the land and fairies who wished for the same result in order to defeat the Ender Dragon._

 _In the end, the Order of the Stone emerged victorious, and the Ender Dragon was defeated._

 _But angered that their lesson to the humans had been destroyed and that some of their own, many of the witches, corrupted by malicious treatment and cruelty, banded together and unleashed another scourge upon the world- one that would not be so easily destroyed._

 _The FAIRYTALE CURSE._

 _The Fairytale Curse was a much more subtle scourge upon the world, not as obvious and as destructive as the Ender Dragon._

 _Upon first glance._

 _The Fairytale Curse took its name from the many stories that had been written under that title. Each curse took a well known fairytale, ones with happy endings and ones without, twisting the ones with happy endings so that breaking the curse was well nigh impossible without previous knowledge of the curse._

 _This curse punished all who received, be it fairy, witch, or human, and to this day, it is still running rampant throughout the lands, spreading havoc and death everywhere it goes._

 _Those who receive the Fairytale Curse are unaffected by the conditions of other Fairytale Curses, but those who do not have the Fairytale Curse know nothing of the curse- only that it exists, and that they are based on the different fairytales. Those who have it choose to keep it a secret, afraid that the fact that they have the curse will force the people they love away from them._

 _You may be wondering, why am I telling you this story? Does this story have a happy ending?_

 _That all depends on the hero of this story.  
_

* * *

"Would you rather fight a hundred chicken-sized zombies, or ten zombie-sized chickens?"

Olivia leaned back against a shelf, holding a handful of faintly glowing redstone dust in her hand. The girl's curly black hair was tied up neatly in pigtails, topped off by a green beanie with goggles attached. Her vest was already covered with the particles of redstone, although it was rather hard to tell since it was red itself, and the dark-skinned girl was giving her friend a patient look.

"And I'm not talking about just a resized thing that a fairy might summon. I'm talking about a full on nasty witch-created monstrosity that could probably kill you," Olivia added, after a moment of thought.

Jesse turned to look at Olivia, long black hair shifting aside gently as she turned to look at Olivia. There was a golden pin keeping the hair out of her emerald-green eyes, and her overalls effectively covered most of her white t-shirt with the red sleeves. Despite Olivia not being a particularly tall person, Jesse was easily a full half-head, if not a full _head_ , shorter than her friend. In one hand was a wooden practice sword, as the dummy she'd been practicing with clattered back to the floor in the absence of any new attacks.

"I'd have to go with the giant chickens. Not because I _want_ to, or because I think it would be easy..." Jesse paused, making a face as the mental image of the zombie-sized chickens appeared in her mind's eye and blinked out as fast as it had come, "but because they would be an abomination."

"Imagine their giant feet," Olivia agreed, rather enthusiastically.

Jesse grinned at Olivia. "Like I said. An abomination." With that, Jesse turned back to the training dummy and continued smacking it with the wooden sword, being sure to keep dodging the resulting rocking-back-forward motion of the dummy. The first time she'd tried attacking the dummy, it had rocked back forward and slammed full into her nose. She'd been lucky to not break her nose.

There was a long pause, punctuated only by the clatter of wood on wood, before Olivia turned back around to the shelf, glancing over at Jesse with a quizzical look. "So... you _are_ going to stay away from anything that's on fire this time, right?" she asked, casually.

Jesse's sword abruptly knocked the wooden dummy to the floor, as the swing that Jesse had been preparing lashed out with much more force than had been intended, changing the rhythmic clatters into a deafening crash. Reuben, who had been nudging the training dummy to help Jesse, let out a squeal of surprise and dodged aside as the dummy hit the floor of the treehouse with a noise that startled at least a dozen parrots into flight.

"I- uh- huh?" Jesse asked, looking up from the dummy up at Olivia, who had whipped around from where she'd been putting down the redstone in a neat trail on a nearby bookshelf.

The dark-skinned girl turned back to look at her shorter friend with a slightly raised eyebrow. "I mean, c'mon, Jesse, you're the clumsiest person I know. Last year we went on a hike and you were coming up to where we were and tripped straight into the campfire." Olivia rolled her eyes. "Besides, you got _seriously_ burned from landing in the campfire like that. It's just better for your safety to stay away from anything flammable." Despite the almost slightly sarcastic tone in Olivia's voice, there was a clear amount of concern in Olivia's eyes as she regarded Jesse.

"Oh." Jesse relaxed a little, although not a lot. "Yeah. Definitely not planning on doing that again anytime soon."

The dark-skinned girl gave a light chuckle at the answer. "I hope you weren't planning it that time, either." Returning her attention to the redstone, Olivia said, "Soo, I've got a daylight sensor on the roof..."

"Uh-huh," Jesse replied, quickly righting the dummy again and giving Reuben's head a rub.

"And if I did this right, these lamps should turn on once it gets dark."

"Okay."

"I didn't want to just leave Reuben here while we were at the competition-"

Jesse cut Olivia off here, giving her friend a slightly bemused expression. "He's... coming with us?" The way Jesse said it, it was clear that she felt this little detail was quite obvious.

"Really?"

Jesse frowned at the surprised tone in Olivia's voice, and the flash of surprise that the curly-haired girl was unable to hide in time. "Of course he is. What kind of question is that?"

Olivia put her hands up in surrender quickly, giving her head a shake and letting her curly hair bounce around a little. "Okay. I'm not saying he shouldn't come."

Reuben let out a disbelieving oink.

"I'm not!" Olivia paused, realizing she'd just spoken to the little pink pig, before continuing, sounding a little hesitant and as if she was choosing her words extremely carefully. "But... don't you think it's a little weird that you take him with you... _everywhere_ you go?"

Jesse crossed her arms over her chest a little defensively, resting them over the pocket on the front of the overalls. "Reuben is the best pet I could ask for. Obedient, loyal, and always happy to see me at the end of a long day." Spotting the annoyed look on Reuben's face from where he was now perched on a chest in front of the windowsill, she quickly corrected, "Friend. I should have said friend. Not pet."

Reuben went back to smiling, having given her a little nod as if to say, _That's what I'm talking about._

"I didn't mean anything by it. I'm glad he's coming." Olivia sighed, setting her hands down a bookcase. "I just... don't want to give anyone another reason to call us losers. I'm getting tired of it." There was a short pause, before Olivia said quietly, "I'm tired of being a laughingstock."

Jesse gave Olivia a little shrug. "Well, _I_ don't think you're a loser. Besides," and Jesse gave Reuben a solid little pat on the back, "they really don't know what they're missing out on. It's their loss, not ours." And she and Reuben gave Olivia twin grins, both wide and cheerful.

Olivia shook her head, a low chuckle emitting from her throat. "All right, fine," she conceded.

A hissing sound started up in the background, making Jesse frown a little quizzically, looking around for the source of the sound. "Do you hear that?" she asked, quietly. Olivia was looking around too, eyes searching for the source of the sound as well.

A moment later, both sets of eyes fell on the same source.

The wooden trapdoor leading into the treehouse.

"Oh _no_ ," Olivia whispered, voice sounding a little hushed.

Jesse frowned, kneeling next to the trapdoor so she could peek through and check- and _that's_ when the green, mottled head of a creeper burst through the trapdoors with another thunderous crash, along with a loud "BOO!"

Both girls shrieked loudly, Jesse leaping back and clamping her hands over her heart protectively, while Olivia flinched back and slammed her back into the wall in shock. Reuben let out a loud squeal, rearing onto his hind legs, unbalancing, and falling off the chest forward onto the floor. Which was lucky. He easily could've toppled over backwards out the _window_ , and that would've been a disaster.

A boisterous laugh rang out, making Jesse freeze from where she'd started scrambling backwards with hands still clamped over her chest to get away from the creeper, before her expression switched back to the 'creeper', to see Axel pulling off a well-made creeper mask and grinning the widest grin ever at them. His black hair was slightly messed up from being inside the mask, and his fluffy hoodie was messed up a little as well. "Oh man! You guys _totally_ freaked out!" he exclaimed, climbing fully into the treehouse, "that was awes-"

He was cut off by Reuben charging forward and butting his head angrily into his stomach, making Axel gasp a little as the air was headbutted out of his stomach. Glancing down, he frowned and rubbed that area a little.

"Axel- what's the _matter_ with you?!" Olivia blurted angrily, rubbing her back a little and looking as if that action had just hurt quite a bit. (Actually, it probably had.)

Axel, however, seemed a little preoccupied with something else. "Great. Now I'm going to smell like a pig at Endercon," he moaned, before giving Reuben an accusing look. "I thought we were buddies!"

"Just what you deserve," Jesse joked, hands still clutched over her heart, although they were relaxing a little bit and no longer grabbing at her heart. "Cool mask, though."

"It is, isn't it?" Axel said, grinning proudly at his much-shorter friend. If Olivia was already a head or so taller than Jesse, Jesse was at least THREE heads shorter than Axel. The guy was TALL. And _way_ bigger than them both. He might've been kind of big, but most of that was muscle, and he could easily lift Jesse if he so chose to. (Which he usually didn't, because Jesse hated it.)

"Yeah. Very convincing." And Jesse shot him a playful glare while setting her hands on her hips.

Axel let out a brassy laugh, seeming unconcerned by her playful glowering. "The look on your _faces_..."

Olivia changed the subject, rolling her eyes subtly at Axel and his antics. "Did you bring the fireworks?" she asked, patiently.

"Yes, I did." Axel then dramatically pulled out a set of black wings and a little Ender Dragon head, just the right size for Reuben. "I even brought something for the little guy!"

Jesse felt a huge grin spreading over face. " _Nice!_ " she exclaimed, cheerfully.

Olivia raised her eyebrow a little bit at the sight of what he was holding. "You brought Reuben a disguise?"

"Uh, we're going to a convention," Axel said, going over to Reuben and quickly pulling the wings and the mask on, " _some_ one's gotta wear a costume." The minute the costume was on all the way, Reuben looked around a little, the jaw of the Ender Dragon head flapping around a little bit, before dashing around in circles around the area, the wings on the Ender Dragon flapping around as he ran around the room.

Jesse's grin was in danger of splitting her face. "He looks _awesome!_ " she exclaimed, happily.

"It only took me like a million hours to build it."

Jesse rolled her eyes at the comment, grinning widely at Axel. "All right, all _right_ ," she chuckled, shaking her head at the burly boy. Really, he looked like he could be a professional wrestler, but he was _such_ a kid sometimes.

"You _definitely_ brought the fireworks, right?" Olivia checked again, raising her eyebrow at Axel.

"Yes, yes," Axel waved this off, giving his eyes a friendly roll. "Waiting on you guys!" He glanced over at Jesse, giving her a gentle clap on the back. He'd used to clap her on the back a lot harder, but then after knocking her into the floor the first few times, he'd started becoming a lot more gentle. Which Jesse was thankful for.

Olivia gave him a smile at that and moved to start heading down the ladder, glancing up at Jesse as she did so. "We'll meet you and Reuben downstairs, okay?"

"Okay!" Jesse replied, a bright grin on her face.

Shutting the trapdoor behind them, Olivia and Axel began to make their way down the ladder. Jesse backed away from the trapdoors a moment later, her smile falling into a more serious expression as she did so. Gingerly, she reached up, unzipping the pocket on the chest of the overalls she was wearing and reaching into the pocket.

With almost comedic gingerness, Jesse lifted out a glowing, red heart the size of her fist (although it wasn't nearly as thick as a fist- only about the thickness of a thick cookie), allowing it to rest in her palm. The slight translucency of the heart at the edges betrayed the fact that it was made of glass, and the glow was from a single, quarter-sized sphere of light in the center of the heart, effusing a warm, cheerful glow.

The glow pulsed in sync with Jesse's heartbeat.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright, I figured I'd publish this and see how it's received. If... three people comment on every site that I post this on comments on the chapter (positively and showing interest), I'll keep this going. If not, then I'll just leave it as a sort of oneshot.  
**

 **Wow, I'm taking on way too many things at once. Good for me! xD**

 **Well, hopefully people like this.**

 **See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	2. Cursed

Jesse took a shaky breath as she regarded the glowing heart in her hands, feeling the glass surface vibrate gently with each heartbeat, pulse against her fingers as if whispering, _I'm still here. You're still alive._

Three years.

Three whole years since she'd been cursed.

It was a bit of a wonder that she'd managed to keep it a secret for that entire period of time. There had been a few panicked moments back when she'd tripped into the campfire last year- a few moments where her brain short-circuited and screamed, _That's it. That's it. I'm dead. This is how I die._ In fact, if Axel had not run forward and hauled her out of the fire rapidly, she probably would've died right then and there. As it was, she'd been badly burned and had been bedridden for three weeks.

Axel and Olivia had been a little suspicious- after all, Jesse's burns had been _incredibly_ severe, more so than just tripping into a campfire should probably warrant for- but they'd just put it down to Jesse's rather poor luck and natural clumsiness.

Absentmindedly, Jesse ran her thumb over the smooth, glassy surface of the heart- _her_ heart, she corrected herself. This was _her_ heart. Not just a pretty ornament that she could set on the mantel. It was her heart, and if this thing broke she was done for and that would really kind of suck. She wasn't ready to die yet.

 _Stay away from Lukas._

Jesse's hands jerked at the sound of _that voice_ , the glass heart jumping out of her hands a little bit as a lance of fear hit her in the chest. Reuben let out an alarmed squeal at the sight of the fumble.

Thankfully, through some quick grabbing, Jesse's fingers just _barely_ managed to catch ahold of the heart, just before it could slip to the ground and shatter into little pieces. Quickly readjusting her grip on the heart so that it was in a much less precarious position, panting as her green eyes darted around the room, she was vaguely aware that the heartbeat was going at a much quicker speed.

Looking around the room quickly, Jesse couldn't see anyone or anything. With the exception of Reuben, now rubbing his Ender-Dragon-mask-clad head against her leg in a comforting way, there was nobody else in the room.

Three whole years since that witch had cursed her.

* * *

 _"Stay away from Lukas."_

 _Jesse paused, turning back to face the girl she'd just run into. Said girl had long black hair with purple streaks, a darker skin tone, and a pair of thick, black-rimmed glasses, and her pale blue shirt went well with her black skirt. "Um... I'm sorry, what did you just say?" she asked, hesitantly. It was starting to get dark- in fact, the forest was already throwing long shadows across the ground- and she was in a bit of a hurry to get home, like every other sane person._

 _"You heard me. Stay. Away. From Lukas," the girl repeated, voice dropping into a more dangerous tone._

 _Jesse stared blankly at her. "Why?" she asked, a moment later. She couldn't really think of any reason to avoid Lukas. Okay, sure, he was a member of the Ocelots- a group that, admittedly,_ bullied _her and her friends quite often. But he was nice. Very polite. And okay, sure, maybe he was a little arrogant sometimes. But then again everyone can be a little arrogant sometimes. So she had no idea why this complete stranger was warning her away from the blonde._

 _"He's_ mine _, that's why. So you need to back_ off _."_

 _Jesse couldn't help it. She just couldn't help it. She burst out laughing. "Wait, this- this is what this is about? Miss, I'm sorry to tell you this, but, uh, I think you're mistaken. I have_ no _romantic inclination towards the guy. Heck, I don't even_ talk _to him on a regular basis. So, uh-"_

 _"Are you saying that I'm_ wrong? _" the girl asked, her voice rising in anger._

 _Jesse was doing her best to stifle a furious round of giggles and not doing very well. "Uh- no, I'm sorry miss, I_ really _don't know what you're talking about. I don't like Lukas that way."_ Or that much at all _, she added mentally, but she decided not to complete that thought. The girl in front of her already looked furious enough._

 _"You have the gall to_ deny _it and then_ laugh _at me?!" the girl's voice had risen into an angry shriek, and now Jesse was finally able to quell her furious little giggles in favor of trying to calm this girl down._

 _"No, I'm just saying, I think you've been misinformed-"_

 _The girl raised her hand, eyes glinting with an ugly, malicious sort of look. "I'll teach you not to laugh at people!"_

 _Jesse suddenly felt a small tug on her chest. At first, it was just a sort of little tug, but then it was harder, and harder, until it felt as if someone was trying to rip her heart right out of her chest. Jesse gasped a little, reaching up and grabbing at her heart-_

 _And grabbing ahold of something._

 _Automatically, Jesse's gaze flew down to her hands, to see a glass object the size of her fist and the thickness of a thick cookie drop into her grasping fingers. Upon slightly closer inspection, it was a glowing heart, emitting a pleasant, red sort of glow, a little light in the center of it and pulsing away-_

 _To the same rhythm as Jesse's heartbeat._

 _"You're quite persistent in trying to convince me that you don't love that boy," the girl sneered. "Well, my steadfast little soldier, perhaps you should learn a lesson- you shouldn't steal other people's things and then_ lie _about it."_

 _Abruptly, something else dropped into Jesse's hand, next to the glass heart. Jesse leaned forward to take a slightly closer look. It appeared to be a small, tin soldier- the type of toy little boys would play with. The tin soldier seemed to be missing a leg._

 _Suddenly, even though Jesse's conscious brain was still a bit muddled and_ very _confused,_ _something in her subconscious clicked, and Jesse's eyes widened as her head snapped back up. "You're a-"_

 _A blast of white light exploded through the area, Jesse throwing up one arm to cover her eyes as the toy soldier burst into spears of light, searing her eyes with blazing light._

 _When the light finally faded and Jesse had blinked the spots out of her eyes, she found that there was nobody else there with her. She was the only one in the forest._

 _The only one to realize, glass heart thudding away in her hand, that she'd just been cursed with the Fairytale Curse._

* * *

Jesse let out a little sigh, thumbing the heart a little bit. She'd barely recognized the fairytale that the witch had cursed her with, but it had been one of the saddest fairytales she'd read growing up- the Steadfast Tin Soldier. She'd had to go scouring several of her old fairytale books to find it, but she'd managed to track down the fairytale.

Rereading it, again and again, it always seemed sadder than she'd remembered. A little boy received a box of tin soldiers on his birthday, but one of the tin soldiers was missing a leg. The tin soldier saw a ballerina with a shiny metal sequin on her sash, also standing on one leg, and fell in love with her. That night, a goblin in the form of a jack-in-the-box warned the soldier to stay away from the ballerina.

The tin soldier refused to stay away from the ballerina, and the next day he was knocked out of a window onto the street, where some more little boys found him, picked him up, and put him into a paper boat, sending him down the stream against his will. Despite the odds being against him, he succeeded in making his way back to the ballerina and to the little boy.

Without warning, the little boy suddenly picked the tin soldier up and threw him into the furnace. A gust of wind carried the ballerina into the furnace as well, consuming her in the fire. The next morning a maid that was cleaning the ashes out of the furnace found the nothing but a tiny tin heart, and the ballerina's metal sequin, burned as black as coal.

Reading and rereading the story, sad as it was, had at least given Jesse a general idea of how her curse would play out if she didn't manage to break it. If she didn't break it, some form of bad luck- or perhaps it was a spell from the witch that had cursed her in the first place- would continually try to knock her into fires and burn her to death, like a witch being burned at the stake. And the only thing that would remain of Jesse once she'd burned to death, was the glass heart that was currently pulsing away in her hands.

The witch that had cursed her had apparently decided, however, that that in itself was not enough, and had decided to add another nasty little way for Jesse's curse to kill her. If the heart were to break somehow- and I'm not talking about a crack in the heart or something, I'm talking about smashing it into multiple pieces- Jesse would also die. So the girl was now constantly at pains to be extremely careful with letting her heart take a fall. She _really_ didn't want to risk it.

Without letting Olivia and Axel know- how could she let them know? They'd leave her in a heartbeat (Jesse smiled grimly at the unintended joke) if they found out that her heart had turned as delicate as glass (literally!)- she'd been quietly researching on how to break the curse. On how to return her body to the way it had been before. Breaking the curse would definitely free her from having to act as if she was a delicate little flower all the time, because she really wasn't.

There was just one little problem.

Jesse had no idea how to break the curse.

It wasn't even that she had a vague idea, or even the _inkling_ of an idea. She had _no idea_. The tin soldier had died in his story. In every version Jesse had managed to find, the tin soldier died, burned to death in the fire. There were no versions- not one- where the tin soldier survived. There was no indication as to how to break the curse in the story, either.

One year had passed, and then two years, and by now it was the third year, and Jesse was exhausted of pretending that she was still normal, that she wasn't cursed, as if that incident had never happened; of poring over the same books and hoping that she'd missed even the smallest detail, even one word off; of automatically reaching up and grabbing at her heart protectively when anything alarming happened.

Letting out a slightly annoyed sigh, Jesse reached up and placed the heart carefully back into its designated pocket, zipping it up so it couldn't just up and fall out randomly. Now wasn't the time to worry about this; she had a competition to prepare for.

Besides... it wasn't like she was pretending _all_ the time. In fact, when she could forget about her curse, when Reuben was playing with her, when Axel and Olivia playfully argued as they planned for their next Endercon build over dinner... those were the nights she rested the easiest.

"Alrighty!" she muttered, looking over at Reuben and allowing a determined grin to cross her face. "Let's not keep Axel and Olivia waiting for too long, shall we?"

Reuben perked up at the sound of Jesse cheering up, squealing slightly and butting his head into her leg. Grinning cheerfully at her little pig, Jesse went over to the nearest chest- which happened to be near where Olivia had been placing her redstone- she reached into the chest, to find a pair of shears. "Shears. Definitely taking these," Jesse said cheerfully, sliding them neatly into her pocket, "never know when you might need to shear some sheep."

Jesse got the distinct feeling that Reuben was secretly grinning at her with that comment.

Moving over to the other chest, Jesse absentmindedly flipped it open—

And froze in her tracks.

The only thing in the chest, the one other thing that neither Axel or Olivia had thought to bring with them for the competition, was one of the things that Jesse had been subtly trying to avoid for the past three years.

A flint and steel.

Flint and steel was less dangerous than carrying around a lit torch, but unfortunately, with Jesse's 'bad luck', flint and steel would often ignite a little spark whenever she was near it. Once near the beginning of the three years, she'd been carrying a flint and steel in her pocket— she'd been using it and that was quicker than sticking it in her inventory— and it had just randomly clicked together while she was walking and set her pants on fire.

Luckily, she'd been near a stream at the time and nobody was in the vicinity, so she'd just jumped into the stream and extinguished the fire, although the fire had definitely destroyed her jeans and she'd had to wade all the way back home to avoid getting caught on fire again. It had also been one heck of time trying to explain to Olivia and Axel without revealing the curse why she was soaking wet and how her pants had caught on fire.

This was why she wore overalls now and why she avoided putting anything that might catch fire in her pocket. For example, flint and steel.

But, a flint and steel _might_ come in handy today, so, hesitantly, Jesse picked up the flint and the steel as if it was a hot potato. Of course, it wasn't, but you never know, with Jesse's luck it might've just burst into flames randomly right then and there.

... okay, so maybe I was exaggerating about that a little bit, but still, better safe than sorry.

When they didn't, Jesse proceeded to separate the two parts of the flint and steel, and stick them as far apart in her inventory as she could. They probably would not just randomly ignite a spark in her inventory, but nobody ever died from being too careful.

Standing up, Jesse glanced around the treehouse absentmindedly. Well, seeing as she'd just wasted several minutes worrying over her heart (like she generally did), she figured she should just head down and re-join the others now.

Reuben, sensing that Jesse was about to start heading down the ladder, let out an excited squeal and began running around, making Jesse grin at the little pink pig as she approached the trapdoor, the pig-dressed-as-an-Ender-Dragon running around her before she managed to scoop him up into her arms. He always managed to cheer her up. And he was always looking out for her. Once, while she'd been mining in a cave, she'd accidentally fumbled her heart and Reuben had caught it in his mouth before it could hit the floor.

"C'mon, Reuben," Jesse said cheerfully, opening the trapdoor and starting down the ladder with the pig cradled under one arm, "let's get going."

Olivia and Axel greeted Jesse with twin smiles as she made it to the floor— Olivia, her expression filled with slight anxiety even though she was smiling, and Axel, who looked confident and overbearing and cheerful as usual. "Do you think that's everything?" the curly-haired redstone engineer asked, slightly anxiously.

Jesse took a deep breath and gave them a big nod and grin. "I'm pretty sure."

"Let's roll," Axel said, gesturing with that huge grin still on his face.

Olivia rolled her eyes at their friend, smirking slightly. "Yeah, dude. 'Roll'," she teased slightly, eyes glimmering with slight mischief. She was clearly still a little miffed about his prank with the creeper mask.

Jesse laughed, beginning to walk with Reuben trailing behind her a little bit. "Let's _go_ ," she joined in the teasing, hiding a giggle at the way Axel's grin turned into a playful pout.

She might be cursed, but sometimes she sure didn't feel that way.

* * *

 **A/N: Aww, fluff!**

 **I'm technically not OFF my hiatus— (Mom hasn't officially said), but I'm going to start getting into biweekly (or possibly triweekly) updates, like how Toni42 updates Movie Mode. Except my chapters are shorter, so they'll probably come out too fast and I'll just lapse back into a general cycle xD It's just better for me to get into a sort of schedule. So... technically, for some time at least, I'm back.**

 **My schedule is going to be The Fairytale Curse, Minecraft: Normal Mode, Hybrid: Cinematic Mode, and Composite. In that order. Update dates are probably going to be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. (Probably. It's up for debate, since I'm still waiting for Phantasmagoria's script to be fully beta-read, and after that's done, I'm going to be busy working on that as well. Also, school. Also, I have another fanfiction I'm going to publish. It's MCSM.)**

 **Replies to reviews!**

 ** _Fanfiction_ :**

 **ShiningHopeBeast: I'm glad you like it so far! A really big part of me was concerned that people wouldn't like it, haha. / I'm definitely continuing it after all the comments I've got— wow a lot of people are curious. / Yeah, that was a nice part too. X3**

 **LunarTheMooncake: (pokes) Thank you x3**

 **TheAmberShadow: Hopefully x3 / Glad you like it! / Well... yeah, it's literally just Jesse's heart. xD**

 **NoItsBecky: Yes, yes I have! / I'm glad you like it! / I'll try to remember, I'm literally snowed under from everything! XD**

 **Princess of Muffins: I'm glad you like it! And hopefully.**

 **AquaK13: That's great! Glad you like it! / I've only played one Legend of Zelda game (the one with the train), and I didn't finish the game. XD / No, not a heart CONTAINER... xD / I missed you guys too! And I'm glad you like it so far, I was worried nobody would xD**

 **J.M.M.: I don't really know what you mean by '?' XD**

 **homeworkoverload: I shall continue it xD**

 **CamronXTheXGamer: Yep! XD**

 **Guest: I'm glad you like it so far!**

 ** _Quotev_ : **

**Eve: Yep xD**

 **Djbeats backup: Okay then! X3**

 **Diamond: Then here is more x3**

 **||EnderDragons|| EnderIndustries: I rarely collab with people unless I really know them and we're good friends, and I like the way they write and their story ideas. Maybe come back to this topic once we know each other a little better... x3**

 **Well, that's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	3. Cool Rumors, Crazy Ideas, and Collecting

"I heard a pretty juicy rumor about the building competition, but you guys have to promise not to say _anything_ ," Axel warned the two other girls as they strolled off. A bystander would've thought they were just wandering randomly off into the forest, but anyone who knew which way the Endercon Building Competition was from this direction would've realized they were on a path straight for it.

Olivia simply shrugged at Axel's remark. Jesse knew her friend better than that, though- the way Olivia was hiding a small smile, she was kind of curious to hear what Axel's rumor was. "Okay."

"Also, it's in two parts, each part more exciting than the last—"

Jesse rolled her eyes and playfully reached over to shove him with a laugh. "Spit it out, Axel!" she exclaimed, rolling her eyes a little at the bigger boy.

Axel obliged. From the way his dark eyes were practically glittering with excitement, and the fact that he was hopping around a little, he was actually really excited to tell them about the 'rumor'.

Jesse had to wonder when her friends had gotten so easy to read.

"Part one. The special guest at this year's Endercon is none other than Gabriel the Warrior him-freaking-self!" the burly boy declared with quite a bit of pomp, flailing his arms about in the air.

Jesse's eyes widened to the size of saucers immediately, and Olivia's hands flew up to her mouth in reflexive surprise. "Whoa!" the green-eyed girl gasped in awe, automatically reaching up to her heart and touching it as if to confirm that it was still there and hadn't just jumped out somehow. "What's part two?!"

"Part two. According to my sources..." Axel allowed himself a dramatic pause. He was quite dramatic sometimes. "... the winner of the building competition's gonna get to meet him!"

Jesse's mouth dropped open in shock, and Olivia gasped, hands still over her mouth as they kept walking along.

"It doesn't mean anything if we lose," Axel continued, a little dismissively, "but if we win... oh man. This would make up for all the losing!"

Jesse nodded vigorously, hand still touching the heart. It might've just been her imagination, but she was positive that the glass heart was pounding away faster than it had been going before. "Meeting Gabriel would be a dream and an honor."

"Totally," Olivia immediately agreed, "he's awesome. It'd be _amazing_ to meet him."

"Reuben had better be careful in that costume," Axel added, making the entire group twist to look at the little pig dressed in his Ender Dragon costume, who looked up at the sound of his name with a squeal, "the last time Gabriel saw a dragon, it didn't End well."

Jesse's eyes lit up, and she giggled. She _loved_ puns. And pick-up lines by extension, because most of them _were_ essentially just romantic puns.

Olivia, meanwhile, rolled her eyes. She wasn't the biggest fan of puns herself, and would often groan good-heartedly whenever Jesse made one. Which was at least three times a week, so Olivia did a lot of good-hearted groaning. She was actually pretty nice about it though. Sometimes she would remind Jesse that she'd already used a pun that week.

She paused, having apparently spotted something as she looked around, before looking back at Axel and arching her eyebrow. "Soo... does this 'source' of yours make posters for a living?" the dark-skinned girl asked.

Jesse turned to see what Olivia was looking at, and immediately spotted it— Endercon posters were plastered all over a small section of trees, including some announcing that Gabriel was going to be at Endercon and that the tickets to the keynote were sold out. (Jesse wasn't surprised. Despite being sold at an exorbitant price, tickets for the special guest had practically flown out of the ticket box windows.

Axel rubbed the back of his head with a slightly awkward expression on his face. "Yeah..." he admitted sheepishly, "my source, uhh, doesn't, um... exist. You guys are my only friends."

Jesse jogged them both gently with her elbow, smiling at them. "Guys, let's stay focused... we have a competition to win."

Olivia let out a sigh. "We never win. And this year we've got _Reuben_ with us." She gestured at the pig, who looked over at her. "We basically have no chance."

"Well... sure, winning is fun," Jesse said slowly, carefully picking her words, "but it's not everything. _Wanting_ to win is. Wanting to win is the whole point. Not giving up is the point. Never letting up is the point. We were _born_ to win, but in order to win," and she was now getting really into this little pep talk, gesturing wildly with her arms and allowing her voice to rise, "you have to prepare to win, and plan to win, and _expect_ to win. We might... lose a lot of things," she had to make a concession there, "but winning isn't about never failing— it's about not giving up!"

Olivia cut her off before Jesse could get any more passionate about it— which was probably a good thing, because Jesse had been about to launch into a roll, and then she would've just kept pep-talking for the next three hours. "Alright, alright, Jesse, I get it." Her tone was lighter though, and her expression had lightened from the somewhat gloomy one it had fallen into.

"No, no, I second that," Axel jumped in, quickly backing Jesse up.

As if the pep talk or motivational speech or... whatever that had just been had jumpstarted Jesse's brain, an idea popped into her head with the speed of a racing horse and the force of a piece of gravel dropped from the top of a fifty-foot-tall building. "Wait a minute— _wait a minute_ ," she said abrutply, almost skidding to a halt altogether, "we're thinking about this all wrong."

The other two came to a stop, a little distance in front of Jesse as they turned to face the much-shorter girl. Both had rather blank expressions on their face, and Axel in particular looked quite bemused.

Jesse couldn't tell how Reuben was feeling. The Ender Dragon head hid a lot of emotions he could show.

"How's that?" Olivia asked, cocking her head to one side.

"The point of the building competition isn't just to build— _something_. You have to do something to get noticed by the judges!" Jesse exclaimed, spreading her arms out wide.

The not-quite-an-official redstone engineer put her hands on her hips, considering what Jesse had just said. After a few seconds, she nodded, accepting what Jesse had just said. "Okay then... so, how do we do this?"

"We don't just build something functional— we build something _fun!_ " Jesse said enthusiastically, eyes sparkling, "after finishing the fireworks machine like we planned, we build something really cool on top of it!"

Olivia nodded, immediately seeing the sense in Jesse's idea. "You might be onto something," she said slightly slowly, a grin spreading over her face as she slowly turned the idea over in her head.

Axel spoke up now, attracting both girls' attention. "If you want to get a reaction out of the judges, you build something scary." He waited for the two girls to give agreeing nods (which they did) before continuing, "So I say we build a creeper—"

The curly-haired girl interrupted here, looking over at Axel and raising an eyebrow at him. "Wouldn't an Enderman be better?" she asked. "I'm more scared of Endermen than creepers."

Jesse pondered the idea for a moment as Axel continued, "they both have their moments... both pretty scary."

There was a short pause, before Olivia added thoughtfully, "then again, you _did_ scare the crap out of us with a creeper today."

Finally, Jesse made her choice— she was definitely more scared of Endermen than of creepers, so she announced, with a decisive nod, "Let's build an Enderman."

Axel frowned a little bit. "Awww... Olivia's thing?" he asked, in a slightly complain-y tone, and oh. Oh. Yep, there was more of Axel's childish personality. Seriously, he was a big guy but he was _such_ a dork sometimes.

Olivia put one hand on her hip and raised her eyebrow at Axel, looking unimpressed. Jesse could see the way her friends' lips were twitching, though. "Are you _whining_?" she asked him teasingly.

"No," Axel responded instantly, and rather defensively, "I was saying 'awwwwwwesome."

"Suuuure you were," Jesse teased him as well. Her grin didn't fade even when Axel playfully shoved the shorter girl a bit, scowling jokingly at her.

Olivia grinned at the childish display, before tilting her head to one side, hand still resting on her hip. "Think we've got everything we need?" she asked, curly hair bouncing a little as she moved her head.

Jesse cocked her own head to one side as she considered what they had. They definitely had everything for the fireworks machine, but to build the Enderman... they'd need ink. And wool. And something purple for the eyes. "It wouldn't hurt to grab a little more," she finally said, decisively.

"Let's get to grabbin', then!" Axel declared with a grin.

The rather petite leader of the group stuck her hand out, and Olivia and Axel quickly followed suit, setting their hands on top of hers. Reuben stood up on his hind legs, setting one hoof in the middle of the group gesture. "Okay, 'dare to prepare', on three. No, wait-" she quickly corrected herself, "'preparing is daring'. Nope, that's the same thing- forget it, 'team', on three. One, two, three-"

The whole group flung their hands into the air with an enthusiastic "TEAM!" Well, Olivia and Jesse did. Axel, probably having gotten rather muddled up by Jesse's rambling, shouted "Prepare!"

Grinning at each other, the three friends split up, running off into the forest at different angles. Jesse paused, glancing over her shoulder with a wide, slightly excited grin... and then she ran deeper into the forest.

Time to get some stuff.

* * *

"Redstone... there any redstone in this cave?" Jesse poked her head into a nearby cave. It wasn't a deep or particularly dark cave or anything- it was more of a shallow depression than a cave. And Jesse didn't have a torch because, well... you know.

"... well, I don't _see_ any. Well," Jesse shrugged, pulling out a wooden pickaxe, "I've only got a wooden pickaxe, anyway. Might as well mine some more stone just in case, then."

And she was talking to herself again.

She tended to do that a lot when she was by herself or with Reuben, she'd noticed. Though when Reuben was there, she addressed him.

* * *

Jesse exploded out of the water, giving a little cough and waving an ink sac in her hands as if she'd found the Holy Grail. "Got some more!" she gasped to Reuben, who was just sitting on the bank and shaking his little piggy head at her.

Deciding that this was safer, Jesse had popped her heart over to where Reuben was sitting, just in case it slipped out and fell deeper into the lake- not that it would necessarily matter, since it'd eventually just teleport back to her (she knew, because she'd tried locking the heart up before. Long story short, it did not work), but if some sort of aquatic animal crushed it while it was lost, that would be bad.

Diving into a lake to kill squids and get ink sacs was perhaps not the safest practice, but Jesse didn't have anything to trade for ink sacs, and squids were pretty easy to kill.

Also, you can't catch on fire when you're underwater. That's a huge bonus.

* * *

"Hoo boy. Uhh..." Jesse couldn't help but stare openly at the flock of sheep she'd just stumbled upon. Although, to be fair, 'flood' was probably a more accurate descriptor in this case. She'd literally walked into a small clearing straight into a sheep. In fact, the clearing was practically packed solid with sheep. Jesse could barely move half a foot in any direction without running into a sheep.

Carefully, Jesse withdrew the shears from her pocket. The sheep didn't really have a reaction.

Well, one butted Jesse's stomach with its head, but that was more of a sheep thing than a reaction to the shears.

"Okay." Jesse put the hand not holding the shears on her hip, giving a decisive nod as Reuben let out a cheerful little oink behind her. "Okay. I can do this. I can work with this."

Taking a deep breath, Jesse waded deeper into the crowd of sheep.

To make a rather long story short, by the time Jesse was done she looked like she was wearing a layer of lint balls.

* * *

When Jesse finally reunited with the others, she was somewhat relieved to see that she didn't appear to be the only one that had had trouble getting materials. Axel had a rather large splotch of purple dye on the white, fluffy bit of his hoodie and had a thin layer of sand dusting his front, while Olivia's hair glittered with redstone dust and she had a good amount of wood shavings dusting her beanie. (Jesse grinned when Axel reached up and wordlessly dusted it off.) If she'd been the only one who'd had trouble, she would've felt a little awkward.

Without saying a single word, Jesse extended her slightly inky hand- one of the ink sacs had exploded in her grip when she'd grabbed it the wrong way- with a wide, slightly breathless grin.

Axel nodded at the sight of it and wordlessly placed his hand on top, Olivia adding hers to the handpile a moment late, before Reuben reared up and added his hoof to the pile.

After a moment of hesitation, the group threw their hands into the air with identical grins and launching them into an airborne jump, Reuben leaping into the air with a little squeal as well.

Landing back on the ground from the little jump, Jesse staggered into Olivia, off-balance and a little breathless from the whole ordeal. Olivia, who was also a little off-balance, tripped straight into Axel.

Usually, the domino chain would've ended there, but because Axel was kind of tired and also not entirely balanced at the moment, he toppled over as well, knocking the entire group onto the grassy ground with collective yelping and laughter.

Lying on her back in sunlight, body aching but racing with adrenaline, Jesse couldn't help but just grin up at her three best friends, Reuben snuffling and butting his Ender-Dragon-mask-clad-head against her cheek, while Axel was giggling nonstop like an idiot and even Olivia was chuckling from where she was squashed under Jesse.

It was moments like this where Jesse was really thankful that these two were her friends. Even if Axel could be a silly weirdo and Olivia was way too pessimistic sometimes, and they weren't exactly popular or well-liked or anything, Jesse was pretty sure that even if she could, she wouldn't trade them for anything.

* * *

 **A/N: Fluffff. xD**

 **Okay, next chapter will be a little less fluffy. But we'll be getting into the real fun parts soon, so no worries!**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Quotev:**

 **Diamond: Already replied to this, but just for the sake of keeping this up here, the reason is because she can't- the curse will magically just teleport it back to her. I'd imagine she's tried it several times already xD**

 **Fanfiction:**

 **Mooncake: Glad you think so, Moon!**

 **InsaneAcrobat: Indeed! / Oh, yay! I'm glad you like it so much. I've been working on this idea for a while so I thought I'd finally share it! / (grins) Some of your theorizing is correct. I'm not going to say which ones, but some are correct. / Mm. / What inspired me to write it, ooh... I really like fairytales, and I thought if some of the characters were afflicted with them, it would make for a really fascinating story.**

 **homeworkoverload: Thank you!**

 **Princess of Muffins: Yeah, it's pretty depressing. / Good to be kinda back! / The curse will probably be broken, but I don't know if we'll learn much more about the witch. Bai!**

 **CamronXTheXGamer: (laughs) / Perhaps.**

 **ShiningHopeBeast: Yeah, I always liked that story, depressing though it was. / Yes, hm, and yes. xD / She MIGHT, but that's still kind of up in the air to be honest. / Yes, fire's a pretty big part xD**

 **Alice Forshadow: I'm glad you like it so far!**

 **AquaK13: Pfff xD / Yeah, when you think about how many things involve fire (the Nether, Boom Town, the enchanted flint and steel, the lava race in the Old Builder's world... oof. / Hmm... yeah, it's kinda similar. Take off the gold designs, but yeah. / Yeah, I never finished the game and I don't know where the game cartridge went :/**

 **TheAmberShadow: All fairytales are based off of the original version, or the closest it can get to that version at least. So yeah xD / I'm not saying how the curse can be broken xD / I'm glad!**

 **NovaAurora10: Glad you like it so far!**

 **J.M.M.: Ah. / Haha, yeah, she's a jerk.**

 **Guest: You said it.**

 **Toni42: I'm glad you like it! That witch was seriously obsessed with Lukas, haha.**

 **Artificial Cloudz: Haha, far too true.**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	4. The Ocelots, Team Names, and Petra

"We know what we're building, we've got all the stuff for it," Axel said enthusiastically, dark eyes gleaming, "we are _so_ ready."

Jesse grinned back at Axel. He was right- usually they were a little underprepared. Either they wanted to change what they wanted to build at the last minute, or they had _just_ a little less than the amount of stuff they actually needed, or one of them was sick, or the weather didn't work for what they wanted to build... there was a whole plethora of options there.

Olivia looked enthusiastic for once as well. Jesse said 'for once' because usually, Olivia was pessimistic (as Axel put it, though Olivia put it as 'realistic' and Jesse put it as 'pessimistically realistic') and had low expectations for them winning. (Especially because they'd lost consecutively for the past nine years.) But this time, she actually had a muted enthusiasm in her behavior. "This year, it's going to be different," she spoke up, in agreement with Axel. "I'm not just ready to build- I'm ready to _win_."

Jesse turned to grin at Olivia, before someone knocked into her shoulder and nearly sent the petite girl crashing to the ground. As it was, she nearly tripped over Reuben. "Nice pig," sneered the person who'd purposefully knocked into her shoulder, judging by the way he was smirking at her, " _losers_."

Jesse winced at the insult, while Axel and Olivia glared at him in perfect tandem. For two people who argued like an old married couple quite often, they often had very similar mindsets- especially when it came to Jesse.

Axel's glare suddenly darkened even more as he let out a low, complaining groan. "Oh, great. It's the Ocelots," he groaned, "the rivalry continues."

Jesse turned to see that Axel was right- at the gateway to Endercon, a group of four people stood there, wearing matching leather jackets with an ocelot emblazoned on the back.

"Man, they've got matching leather jackets and everything," Olivia said, almost wistfully and unknowingly commenting on the very thing Jesse had just noticed. The jackets were new.

"So cool," Axel agreed, also a little wistfully.

The blonde currently talking to the lady at the booth turned just enough for Jesse to make out his long-bridged nose and clear blue eyes, marking him clearly as Lukas, the leader of the Ocelots. She'd noticed him at a few places she frequented, mainly the tiny coffee shop at the edge of town (which she didn't even really go to often- town meant paved streets, and paved streets meant more chances that dropping her heart would smash it).

And he'd visited her at the hospital after her little, er, accident last year.

Her heart picked up speed at the memory of that, fear making the beat palpitate even more quickly. Only a few seconds of panicked thought had flashed through her head before she'd felt Axel- well, okay, she actually hadn't _seen_ him yank her out, she'd already been losing consciousness at that point, but she could assume due to the fact that the person who pulled her out had done it much more quickly than Olivia could, and Axel had been the only person that wasn't Olivia nearby at the time- yank her out of the fire in the nick of time. Much longer and she was pretty sure she would've gone up in smoke.

Okay, time to stop worrying about that or she'd give herself white hairs and that would make Olivia scold her for being too stressed. What had brought on the- oh, yeah, Lukas visiting her at the hospital. She'd just woken up one time to see him sitting in there with a book. She'd been rather confused, but at the time she'd been on a LOT of painkillers, so she'd just gone back to sleep after a few minutes. She'd woken up again to find him gone, but with a little toy pig sitting on the bedside table with a little card attached that said "Get well soon!"

So that had been nice of him.

She didn't talk to him much- they were on rival teams, after all- but he always seemed polite and very friendly when he talked to her.

Unlike his teammates, she frowned as one of said teammates turned to see who was approaching, a sneer coming over his face. Aiden was... well, to put it nicely, a jerk. He never failed to sneer at their failed builds or their losses (especially since they won almost _every year_ ), and he always made fun of Axel because of his size. Axel had a LOT of muscle on him. How was he supposed to help his size?

It was worse when it came to Olivia and Jesse- probably because they were shorter than him (well, of course Jesse was shorter than him, she was only one inch above the legal midget level) and there was less chance of getting beat up from that range. He never seemed to call Olivia anything worse than 'redstone nerd', though.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Coal and the Order of the _Losers_ ," Aiden said, mockingly.

Jesse internally winced at the nickname. _Coal_. Having gotten wind of the incident where she'd tripped into the campfire last year and nearly got burned to death- heck, Jesse was pretty sure most of the people in _town_ knew about that incident at this point- he'd mockingly made it an insulting nickname.

It wasn't the worst nickname Jesse had earned from Aiden- the worst was something along the lines of 'Porkchop', which always made her flinch because, well, Reuben- but considering the fact that she was now terrified of fire, and the fact that she'd nearly _died_ because of fire, and coal burned easily, the nickname made her wince every time she heard it.

It didn't help that the way Aiden said it, he somehow managed to make it sound like the worst of epithets.

Maya- the girl with nut-brown hair and gray-blue eyes that usually tended to go along with whatever Aiden did- smirked as she turned to see the approaching group. "Great. The fail squad's here."

Gill, the bearded guy who was actually kind of nice whenever Aiden and Maya weren't around- once, Jesse had tripped and dropped her heart right in front of him, and without asking any questions about it he'd scooped it up and handed it back to her with a mild "That looks like it'd make a nice gift, be more careful with it"- but was absolutely insufferable with the other two present, smirked as well. "Lukas, get a load of these losers!" he chortled.

Lukas glanced over at Jesse, blue eyes flashing uncomfortably as he met her eyes for an instant, before lowering his eyes to the floor. His hand automatically went into his left pocket, as it usually did nowadays for some reason whenever he seemed uncomfortable or when he met Jesse's eyes.

He usually seemed to be uncomfortable around her nowadays, actually.

"Let's go, guys," he said quietly, heading through the gate into the building competition. Aiden directed one last sneer at Jesse, before turning around and following the rest of this team through the gate. The woman at the gate, whose curly hair rivaled even Olivia's and whose glasses were balancing precariously on the tip of her nose. Her smile was perky and cheerful, but it also had that forced nature of _'Notch please let this be the last team who wants to enter_ ' of most of the people hosting the competition tended to have.

"Name, please?" she asked pleasantly.

"Uh, Axel, and how do you do?" Axel replied, also pleasantly, giving her a friendly grin.

The woman stared at him for a moment, face falling into an almost suspicious frown, as if he was pulling her leg, before the smile came back over her face. "No, I meant your team name."

Jesse's shoulders tensed. Team name? This was the first year any of the people ever asked for a team name. Usually they just called out the booth of the winners and that was that, but no- apparently, now they had to have a team name. This was new.

"Team name...?" Axel mumbled anxiously, apparently having the same thoughts that Jesse was. "We are so not ready for this."

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the Ocelots- mainly Aiden, Maya, and Gill- smirking in their direction. Jesse's mind raced for some type of inspiration, anything to settle upon...

They were building a giant Enderman. And Reuben was dressed as the Ender Dragon.

"We're the-" she blurted, before her brain could catch up and interrupt, "the Dead Enders."

Okay, well, they weren't _dead_ , but the Ender Dragon was dead, right? That counted. Sort of. And it was a better name than, say, uh... 'The Flowers' or whatever.

Axel raised his eyebrows, looking a little surprised. "It sounds like a name for pirates," he said, almost musingly.

Jesse's hands strayed to her chest, touching the spot where the glass heart was thudding away quietly. "If you don't... like the name, I can change it," she offered, being sure to keep her voice low so that the lady at the booth didn't think they were too under-prepared.

"Well, it fits our theme," Olivia replied, also keeping her voice low. "I mean, Reuben's dressed as an Ender Dragon, we're building a giant Enderman... it fits."

The woman wrote something down in her book, before looking back up at them with a bright smile. "Alright, Dead Enders, you guys are in Booth 5!"

Axel moved towards the gate, but halfway through he got stuck in it. He grunted and tried to push himself through, but he was stuck for a moment, and he was left awkwardly squirming and struggling to get himself through the gate for a full ten seconds. Finally, he managed to pop out on the appropriate side, staggering as he popped through and landed, slightly off-balance.

The Ocelots gave one last laugh or snicker- now that Jesse was actually paying the group more attention, she could see that Lukas was simply moving towards Booth... 6. (Oh great, so they were right next to the Ocelots for the building competition. Terrific.) Meanwhile, his other team members remained near the gate, simply to just watch Jesse and the rest of her team squirm.

It apparently worked, as Axel lowered his gaze and walked towards Booth 5 as well. Olivia followed as well, looking a little awkward. Jesse and Reuben brought up the rear, Jesse taking a deep breath to calm herself down, choosing to ignore the way her heart was pounding away in... well, not in her _chest_ , but in the pocket of her overalls that was _at_ her chest.

"Is that a freaking beacon?" Axel whispered the moment she arrived at Booth 5, from where he was craning his neck and peering intently over in the Ocelots' booth's direction, "they've got a freakin' _beacon_? Freakin'... _beacon?_!"

His voice had just risen to a nearly hysterical pitch when Olivia groaned, hugging her elbows, "That's stained glass. They're not just building a beacon... they're building a _rainbow_ beacon!"

Jesse processed this fact, watching as the Ocelots drew various colored pieces of glass as well as the 'freaking beacon' that Axel had noticed out of their chest that held their materials. Okay, _that_ was pretty impressive, she hated to admit it, but... a beacon? And a _rainbow_ beacon to boot. That was a pretty impressive build.

But... it was also more complicated, and while it was impressive to look at initially, people eventually get tired of watching complicated pieces of machinery doing the same thing over and over again. Besides, looking at a giant Enderman was definitely more impressive.

"We've got this, guys," she concluded.

"Who are we kidding? We've got _nothing_ ," Olivia argued in protest, gaze looking almost disappointed, but resigned- like she'd already accepted that they were going to lose, it was a fact, and it wasn't going to change.

Jesse didn't want Olivia to have that expression on her face. It was the look that Jesse had gotten multiple times on late nights doing research on how to break her curse and couldn't find anything. And she would know. She usually locked herself in the bathroom to do the research (just so Axel and Olivia wouldn't wake up and spot her poring over fairytale books in the middle of the night), and she looked in the mirror a good amount of the time when she did that, just so she wasn't staring at words all night.

Seeing that expression on Olivia... well, it was somehow more depressing than when she saw it on her own face.

Jesse paused at the assertion, before pointing at Reuben. "We've... got a mascot," she suggested.

Reuben perked up at that, oinking a little bit.

Olivia glanced over at Booth 6. "We should probably stop staring," she cautioned-

"Hahaha!" Gill laughed. Too late. They'd noticed. "Look! It's Coal and the Order of the Losers. _Again_."

"Good one, Gill!" Maya snickered as she noticed them as well, Aiden turning from where his back had been facing them to face the newly-named Dead Enders. A nasty smirk came over his face.

Olivia gave them her usual facial expression- a carefully cultivated expression of a tired, slightly annoyed deadpan that screamed, even when she wasn't saying a word, ' _I'm way too tired to deal with this right now._ ' "We're just looking," she replied, flatly.

"There'll be plenty of time for you all to _look_ at it once it wins and gets shown at Endercon!" Aiden boasted, one hand on his hip as he sneered at them.

Axel scowled right back at him. He didn't have patience for Aiden on a good day, and right now was certainly no exception. "You're being unpleasant," he shot back, but Aiden didn't appear to be done.

"Well, maybe not _all_ of you," and now he leered down at Reuben, "Endercon doesn't allow outside food or drink."

Reuben let out an angry squeal at the insult.

"I'm talking about your pig," Aiden added, as if his meaning wasn't already obvious. Perhaps he thought that Jesse was stupid.

Jesse's usual 'ignore them and they'll go away' mentality finally cracked at that insult, and she glared at him, arms crossing protectively over her chest. "Reuben is not _food_ ," she snapped back at him. She was pescetarian (she mostly only ate fish and vegetables), and very, VERY anti-pork. She was pretty sure Aiden already knew this.

Aiden smirked back at her. "Oh, really? Could've fooled me. He looks delicious," and he sneered down at the pig.

Jesse paused, before cocking her head at Aiden in slight confusion. "That... sounded like a weird... compliment," she said at last.

Axel interrupted the conversation defensively, speaking up from where he was behind Jesse. "You'll have to eat me, first," he defended the little pig.

Olivia blinked uncertainly at Axel, glancing from Jesse's now slightly amused expression as she inadvertently visualized that comment to Aiden's faded smirk to Axel's stubborn gaze. "Let's, uh... let's hope it doesn't come to that."

This (slightly weird) conversation would've probably just kept going on for a while, but Lukas chose now to interrupt, one hand in his left pocket, and his right hand resting on one hip. "Stop wasting your time, Aiden," he snapped, "we've got work to do."

Grinning victoriously, Jesse and the rest of the team gave the three members of the Ocelots smug looks. Aiden looked taken aback at the rebuke, before scowling back at the Dead Enders. "You're lucky I'm busy," he seethed.

Before any of them could say anything else- judging by the way Axel had actually opened his mouth, he'd been about to make another remark that would just start a whole 'nother argument, a familiar redhead with a blue-striped bandana came in, pickaxe resting on her shoulder. "Hey, Jesse. Guys," she greeted, casually.

Jesse's expression relaxed into a smile. "Hey, Petra," she replied.

Jesse liked Petra. Despite the way Petra often acted like she was a little embarrassed by Jesse's presence (admittedly, a tiny girl who acts nice and cheery all the time is not exactly the kind of friend someone as badass as Petra probably wanted to have), she always was pretty nice to the girl.

Not to mention, she was also one of the only people who'd visited Jesse during her stay in the hospital after the whole accident, the other few being Olivia and Axel (every day), Lukas (once or twice), and Reuben (also every day).

Ever since then, the two of them had developed a sort of friendship where Petra didn't seem to be embarrassed to be seen with Jesse in public, and Jesse wordlessly agreed to act less like a small child on Christmas morning whenever she hung out with Petra.

"How's the build going?" Petra asked casually. This was perhaps not the best question to ask, because the competition hadn't even started yet, but Jesse appreciated the sentiment.

"Only time will tell. But... we're optimistic," Axel responded.

He didn't sound very optimistic.

"Oh, hey Petra," Lukas suddenly spoke up, walking forward with one hand still in his left pocket and reaching up with his free right hand to awkwardly rub the back of his head, "I forgot to thank you for that Nether Star the other day."

Petra smiled back at Lukas, her casual expression softening a little as her eyes crinkled up into a warm sort of smile. "Hey, Lukas," she greeted him in a friendly way. "Not a problem-"

She was almost cut off by Axel, who was scowling slightly. "You _helped_ these tools?" he asked, sounding a little irritated.

Petra's smile went back into the casual expression as her eyes flickered over to him, and she raised her shoulders in a little shrug. "For the right price, I'll help anyone." With that, she started strolling off towards the woods. "If you need anything, you know where to find me."

There was a short pause as the Dead Enders momentarily forgot their enmity with the Ocelots and vice versa and the two groups stared at one another in slight confusion at the remark, before Olivia turned away from where she'd been having a confused staring contest with Maya and called after Petra, "None of us _know_ where to find you!"

"Exactly."

As Petra disappeared into the trees, Lukas turned to face the Dead Enders, rubbing the back of his head with his right hand slightly sheepishly. "No hard feelings, guys," he spoke up, the expressions of the other Ocelots returning to somewhat hostile as they remembered that they were practically archenemies at this point, "if you're cool with Petra, you're cool with us."

Jesse frowned at Lukas a little bit. She had the uncontrollable urge that something was a little... off about him.

... it was probably just her wariness with him ever since that incident with the witch and ever since she'd gotten her curse. When you get cursed because a witch mistakenly thinks that you're romantically involved with someone you don't even talk to on a regular basis, you tend to be a little wary around that person. Let's just put it that way.

"So... why don't we forget about all this, and, y'know- make this about how cool our builds are?" Lukas was saying when Jesse decided that the thing that was 'off' was nothing except her own instincts going haywire.

Jesse paused for a moment- before nodding, taking the offered olive branch smoothly. "May the best team win," she told him, lightly.

Lukas perked up, relief and... some other emotion that Jesse couldn't identify evident in the grin he proceeded to give her. "Careful what you wish for," he warned her playfully.

"We'll see about that," Jesse said after a moment, surprised at the way he was acting so... cheerful all of a sudden.

Maybe her thought that something was off with Lukas wasn't too far off the mark, after all.

* * *

 **A/N: Huh. Looks like something might be up with Lukas...**

 **Sorry for the late update! Fanfiction wouldn't let me submit the document yesterday, so I had to wait until today to submit it and post. Sorry!**

 **I've actually got another MCSM story coming out soon (which brings the number of stories that I'm working on up to 6, but that's fine since not all of them are that far in, so I can wait), so keep an eye out for that!**

 **Also, Merry (late) Christmas to those of you who celebrate it! I hope you guys had a good one!**

 **Replies to reviews!**

 **Mooncake: Aww, sorry to hear that, Moon.**

 **ShiningHopeBeast: (grins) / I played through the entire thing, I'm posting my playthrough as soon as I possibly can! / Well, the build probably won't catch on fire, but it depends on what I decide there.**

 **TheAmberShadow: All of the curses can be broken- it's mostly just a way of figuring out how to break it. / Haha, indeed. / Yeah, it was fun to write!**

 **Toni42: (laughs) That's a fairly accurate statement, Toni. / Yep!**

 **homeworkoverload: Aww, sorry to hear that you didn't have a great day. :/ I hope you're doing better now, though!**

 **Princess of Muffins: (laughs) Aww, Fluffy sounds cute. / I'm glad you like the story so far! I'm really having fun writing it, myself. / Ah, all I'm gonna say, is that scene is going to have some changes to it when it comes around. (grins)**

 **MooncakeT: (laughs) Literally, how so?**

 **Welp, that's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	5. Build and Run

"Ladies and gentleman," the woman from the entrance announced, directing everyone's attention to her, "welcome to this year's Endercon Building Competition!" She was greeted with a round of cheering from everyone present. "The winners of this year's competition will have their build featured at Endercon. The winners will also meet, in person, Gabriel the Warrior!"

More cheering. Olivia threw her hands into the air, while Axel pumped his fist and Jesse did a little happy sort of dance-jump-thing. Then a chorus of "Ocelots!" rang out, and the four of them (including Reuben) turned to see the Ocelots doing some sort of elaborate handshake.

Olivia's eyes widened. "Wow... a _handshake?_ We don't have a handshake!"

Jesse paused, lifting her hand. "We'll just... make one up." The other two followed their lead, curling their hands into fists as Jesse did the same. "We'll call it the..." Annnnnd now she was blanking out again. "... uhhhhhh..." Think, Jesse, think-

"The... Warrior Whip!"

She held out her fist, and the other two bumped it, before their expressions changed to one of slight awkwardness as they didn't really know what to do next. Jesse hesitantly put up her other hand, before letting it fall back to her side a moment later when neither of her friends did anything.

Well... they tried, right?

Olivia sighed. "Aaaaand just like that, I'm nervous again."

Jesse scowled playfully at her friend. "Don't talk like that!" she gently scolded, "we can do this. Just stick to the plan, and everything will be fine. This year, the Dead Enders _can't_ lose." The green-eyed girl's eyes lit up, and she stuck her hand into the center again. Axel, Olivia, and Reuben picked up on what she was doing instantly and joined her, all of them grinning at each other with determination.

Well, she could only assume with Reuben. His head was covered by the Ender Dragon mask.

"Let's do it," Axel spoke, grinning.

"Building-" Olivia braced herself, eyes hardening as her face went from a worried smile to a blank determination, "-starts-" Axel reached towards the blocks in his pocket, brow furrowing as he narrowed his eyes. "- _now!_ " Jesse reached down and rubbed Reuben on the head... mask... same thing, before the three of them rushed towards the center of their booth.

It felt like only a matter of minutes as they all worked together, setting blocks and redstone and dispensers down, before they were standing on top of their finished fireworks dispenser.

"Oh no! A fireworks dispenser?" Aiden shouted mockingly from where he was still working on the rainbow beacon. Lukas glanced down from where he was above the other boy, expression growing slightly irritated at Aiden. "I'm so scared!"

Jesse glared at Aiden. "Make like a beanstalk and _grow up_ , would you?!" she snapped at him, and was slightly surprised to see-

-well, she might've been wrong. They WERE a good distance from him. But she could've _sworn_ that his eyes had widened and his face had actually _blanched_.

Weird.

Deciding it was nothing- time was running out right now- Jesse leaped down from the top of the fireworks dispenser, the others leaping down as well and landing without much issue, before Jesse pulled out several black wool blocks and started stacking them in the shape of an Enderman. Axel surprised her with two large pieces of stained glass, which they popped into the Enderman's face as the eyes.

Finally, despite how it only felt like mere minutes, Jesse looked up to see the sun touching the horizon as it started to set as the last bit of redstone was finally hooked up.

Stepping carefully over to the edge of the Enderman's head- which was much taller than she'd anticipated it being- she peered out over the rest of the building competition.

The only build she could recognize as what it was was the rainbow beacon. Another build seemed to be made of birch wood and fences and didn't look like it really did much of anything, while another one was covered in torches, had a stone floor, spruce wood, and gray stained glass... another one had a small pool of lava (chills shot up Jesse's spine, she did NOT want to get near that), and was surrounded with so much redstone that Jesse was surprised the redstone wasn't catching on fire.

A moment later, Axel clambered up onto the Enderman head alongside Jesse. Since it only went one block back, it wasn't a lot of room, but happily Jesse was very small. As if they could read each other's minds, Jesse and Axel turned in perfect unison to Olivia, who nodded and moved towards the lever perched on the edge of the head, which was to her right.

"And now..." Jesse took a deep breath. Hopefully the fireworks wouldn't make her catch on fire. "The moment of truth."

Olivia regarded the lever without enthusiasm. "Here goes nothing." With that, she reached out and pulled the lever.

Instantly, fireworks shot into the sky above them and exploded into colorful bursts of sparkles and sparks. Jesse had to fight the urge to hide behind Axel the moment it started, and managed to relax a moment later when none of the sparks came close to hitting her.

"Oh man, that looks so cool!" Olivia exclaimed, eyes lighting up. "We'll win this for sure."

Axel looked around, before a grudging smile came over his face. "I gotta admit, this Enderman is sweet." He grinned over at his much-shorter friend, who beamed back at him. "Good call, Jesse!"

Jesse grinned before looking down at a few exclamations, seeing a crowd starting to look up at the build and form around their booth, pointing and shouting in excitement. "Guys," she told the others in a light singsong, "people are looking at us."

"Good build, man!" one of the crowd members shouted. Jesse was pretty sure it was the guy who'd called her team losers earlier.

Jesse grinned and gave them a little wave- which she was pretty sure they couldn't see, from how high up she currently was- before a terrified squealing cut through the cheering, and her head looked around-

Her heart leaped into her throat at the sight of lava spilling out from the build that held the little pool of lava, creeping steadily towards their booth. That wasn't what worried Jesse, though- no, what had her heart pounding away violently in her throat was the sight of Reuben running around with a terrified squeal, his costume steadily catching on fire, before the little pig bolted towards the woods.

"Oh no- Reuben's on fire!" Jesse yelled, feeling the blood drain from her face a little. "Reuben, _no!_ Come back!" she yelled after her little pink pig, to no avail.

"It was Aiden!" Axel practically snarled, expression darkening angrily, "that punk!"

"The lava's getting closer!" Olivia pointed out, watching the lava inch closer and closer towards the vulnerable woolen Enderman.

"It'll ruin the build!"

"Reuben's going to get _lost!_ " Olivia protested as Jesse's mind fumbled for a coherent thought, because she was frozen at the sight of lava and the fire licking at Reuben's costume's wings and her little pig running into the woods and that was _fire right down there she could burn to death any second now-_

"We gotta do something!"

"But our build is about to go up in flames!"

 _Save Reuben._

Jesse looked over her shoulder at the other two. "You guys stay here and save the build!" she ordered, before leaping down from the build. Landing on her feet, she leveled herself into a roll- banging into someone and knocking them over- she didn't have time to apologize she had to save Reuben because she was _not going to let her little pig get toasted_ \- and raced after the little pig into the woods.

"We got it, Jesse!" Olivia's voice floated through the air in Jesse's direction. "We'll meet up with you at Endercon!"

Jesse lifted her arm to indicate that she'd heard her friend, before her fists tightened and she ran after her little pig into the woods as the shadows lengthened.

* * *

"Reuben?!" Jesse shouted, looking around, "where are you?"

No responding oink from the little pig. The worry that had been festering in the pit of her stomach ever since she'd spotted him with his costume on fire grew into a tight knot. "Just... just give me an oink, if you can hear me!" she added.

She slowed from a jog to a walk, looking around the steadily-darkening forest- before spotting something deeper in the trees.

A thin column of smoke rising into the air.

"Reuben?" she called again, moving deeper into the woods past a small body of water. Moments later, she came to a screeching halt at the sight of flames licking at a tree, consuming the leaves and bark hungrily.

Jesse swallowed nervously. If the fire spread, and she was stuck in the woods when it happened...

 _Calm down. Deep breath. Just because you're near a fire doesn't mean you're going to catch on fire._

If she'd told herself this _before_ the incident last year, it would've actually worked. Now, though... she wasn't sure she believed it anymore.

Jesse forced herself to take a deep, calming breath. It didn't actually calm her down too well, but she at least didn't feel like panicking anymore. Taking a closer look at the tree, she noticed that it was sort of in the middle of a clear area, and a relieved sigh made her tense shoulders relax again. "It doesn't look like the fire will spread..." She paused, lips pressing together a bit. "I'll bet Reuben started this."

Moving deeper into the woods, she proceeded to immediately run into a herd of pigs. Pig hoofprints littered the ground, making it difficult to tell if Reuben had passed by.

Jesse let out a slightly annoyed sigh. "Stupid pigs..." Now if Reuben had passed through here, there was no way to tell. "Reuben?" she called out.

Immediately, all of the pigs started oinking.

"No, not you gu- pigs! All pigs but Reuben please shut up!" she ordered, the oinking dying down to snuffling. Well, Reuben hadn't responded or come over, so he presumably wasn't here...

Continuing forward, she came to a small, three-block cliff and a more open area. Hopping down, Jesse's head swivelled from side to side as she looked around. "Reuben? It's getting scary out here!" And indeed, the sun was so low that the sky was painted purple with tinges of pink. It would've been beautiful if Jesse was safely in a building... but right now, she was in the middle of the forest, with no light source to help her find her way.

I mean, she could've made a torch... but the idea of fire sent frightened shivers up her spine. The risk of accidentally starting a fire, or of accidentally catching _herself_ on fire...

She wondered when she'd become such a sissy.

"Reuben?" she called out again, before her head turned-

And her heart dropped to her stomach at the sight of Reuben's Ender Dragon costume, emitting huge clouds of smoke from where it was lying on some dirt. "Reuben? Reuben?!" Her voice rose into a panicked squeak, and she sprinted towards the costume. "Oh no! You in there, buddy?"

There was no response.

Jesse swallowed nervously. The costume appeared to be only smoking, but still... there could be an ember or spark still alive in there...

No! Now was not the time to be worried about catching herself on fire. Reuben could be... could be...

Jesse couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence. "Oh, jeez... please don't be toasted, Reuben." Reaching out with a trembling hand, she took ahold of a smoldering wing, gently shifting it aside as puffs of smoke continued rising, revealing...

... that the costume was abandoned, and that Reuben was nowhere to be seen.

Jesse let out a loud, relieved sigh. Standing back up, she carefully stomped out the smoke, eliminating the thin wisps that had been steadily rising into the sky. Turning back around, she kept walking along, before coming to a stream. "Reuben?" she called out, softly, carefully lowering herself into the stream and letting out a startled gasp- the stream was _freezing!_ Wasn't it the middle of summer right now? "You there, buddy?"

Continuing through the water, feeling both relieved that there was no way she was going to randomly catch on fire and worried that she was going to catch a cold, she waded through the stream, occasionally calling for Reuben without receiving an answer.

Reaching the other side of the stream, Jesse struggled out of it, clothes feeling heavy and wet from her little trip through the water, walking through the area to reach what appeared to be a small field-

Some tall grass rustled.

Jesse blinked, before carefully approaching the tall grass, just in case...

And feeling relief flood her chest at the sight of a shaking, wide-eyed Reuben trembling in the grass and causing the long grass to rustle with his movements. "Reuben!" she almost shouted, relief practically saturating her voice, "there you are!"

Reuben emerged from the grass a moment later, letting out small oinks and a little whine. Jesse beamed and fell to her knees, reaching out and rubbing his head furiously. "Oh, I am _so_ happy to see you!" she exclaimed.

The pig grinned at her.

"C'mon. Let's hurry back to town before-"

Reuben's grin changed to terror, and he let out a terrified oink. Jesse spun back to where she'd emerged from to see zombies lurching towards them, groaning with hunger. It wasn't a lot right now, only two... but Reuben was only a pig, and Jesse didn't have any weapons except for her wooden practice sword.

"Reuben, run!" And Jesse launched herself back into a sort of standing position, staggering and landing flat on her front. In this case, though, fear acted as a boost, hands and knees scrabbling desperately before propelling Jesse into a run after the galloping Reuben, tall grass whipping at Jesse's legs and arms, before coming to a stop who knows how far away. "I," she gasped for breath, giving Reuben a slightly relieved smile, "I think we're good."

A hiss. Not the sort of hiss that Axel had used this morning to fool them, but the real, bonafide thing.

Jesse's head snapped around, eyes landing on an approaching creeper. "GAH!" Jesse yelled, bolting again. Reuben was a fast runner despite being small and a little pig, and they soon managed to reach a small hill, although Jesse nearly tripped straight over a mound of dirt. She'd barely reached the area when an arrow split the air in front of her, VERY nearly hitting her face, which made Jesse scream and jerk back as the arrow slammed into the hill just beyond that area.

Jesse twisted to her left to see a skeleton regard Jesse blankly, eyesockets empty, before preparing another arrow-

Jesse's instincts screamed _RUN!_ She immediately followed her instincts and leaped forward, an arrow hissing past her elbow and almost nicking it, but there was no more chance of getting hit by an arrow because Jesse was now sprinting full-out, running for safety-

And skidding to a halt at the sight of a large cliff blocking the way. Reuben let out a worried oink as Jesse turned around, looking around to see a horde of zombies starting to crowd around her. The little pig let out a little whine and shrank back, making Jesse glance back at him, glass heart thudding away so fast that she was worried that it was going to break from how hard and fast it was beating.

Seeing no other choice, she drew her sword and slammed it into the closest zombie, knocking it back. "Back!" she barked, even though it couldn't understand her, "get back!" Edging backwards slightly, Jesse didn't take her eyes off the zombie, but addressed Reuben. "Stay behind me, Reuben. I've got you."

Reuben obediently edged backwards so that he was behind Jesse, though a safe distance away so she couldn't just trip over him.

Jesse's hand tightened on the wooden hilt, and she took a lunging step forward and drove the wooden sword into the zombie's chest. If this had been a normal person, the sword would've only bruised at the best, but the zombie's chest was rotting, and the sword punched straight into the rotting flesh with almost no issue. Jesse thrashed downwards with the sword, knocking the zombie to the ground, before plunging the wooden blade into its head and making it explode in a puff of dust and smoke.

Yanking the sword out of the smoke and sending a small trail of it in the air after the sword, she charged to the closest zombie and smacked it away from her, before whirling to the next nearest zombie and swinging the blade as hard as she could, aiming for the zombie's neck.

The sword sliced through the rotting flesh with almost no issue, sending the rotting head in a twirl into the air- before both body and head vaporized into a column of smoke and dust, like the first zombie.

"C'mon, c'mon," Jesse muttered, biting her lip, before turning to the next zombie and raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with a heavy overhand stroke-

Only for the blade to snap, doing a slow, lazy 360 in the air before skittering across the ground, several meters away. The zombie happily vaporized into a column of smoke, but mere seconds later, what remained of her wooden sword followed suit. "Stupid wooden swords!" she complained, although she knew full well that it was not the sword's fault, before she began to back away, Reuben following suit as she retreated one step, two steps-

Her back hit the cliff wall.

"I know it's bad," Jesse whispered to Reuben, as a spider jumped down from a nearby tree where it must've been perched. Oddly enough, she did not feel any fear right now- not about the prospect of dying, not while the specter of death was practically hanging over her head and waiting.

Perhaps it was because a death at the hands of zombies and mobs was quicker than one in a blazing fire.

"I'll think of something," she whispered down to the little pig. She only hesitated a moment, before glancing down at her little pig. "You're going to have to make a run for it, okay?"

She didn't mind dying- not like this. But she was _not_ going to allow Reuben to die this way. Not if she could help it.

Reuben let out a whine, shaking his head in protest. "I'll meet you back in town, I promise!" Jesse coaxed gently, feeling a little lump of guilt form in her stomach as she lied to her little pig.

She didn't think she was going to be able to meet Reuben back in town.

Jesse hesitated only a second longer, before her voice grew sharper. "Get outta here! NOW!"

Bolstered by the shout and the promise, the little pig bolted through the monsters, narrowly avoiding getting hit by a zombie, and fled, squealing in terror the whole way. Jesse watched him disappear from sight, feeling a little pang of guilt in her stomach. Well, at least he wasn't going to die.

Jesse paid for her moment of not paying attention the mob in front of her when something slammed into her chest, knocking her to the ground with a yelp. When she focused her attention again, she saw a spider creeping towards her with a deadly hiss- before it sprang into the air and landed on her chest, pincers clawing at her face, long hairy legs poking her.

"Get off me!" Jesse snapped at the spider, one hand shooting up and holding the spider at bay as its legs poked at her face. "Ugh, this is absolutely- _EW!_ " While she'd been trying to yell at the spider, one of its legs accidentally strayed into her mouth. Recoiling, Jesse's other arm reflexively shot up and slapped the spider off of her, knocking it back as she spit desperately, trying to get the foul taste out of her mouth.

The spider did a flip from where it had landed on its back, landing back on its feet. Jesse gasped a little, still gagging and trying to get the taste of the spider's legs out of her mouth. It was _disgusting_.

 _I wish Petra was here._

The thought came to Jesse's mind suddenly. If Petra was here... well, she could probably handle herself a little better if there was someone else who knew how to fight more with her.

Too bad Petra _wasn't_ there.

The spider's legs tensed- it sprang at her-

A pickaxe slammed it out of the air and off to the side before it could hit her. A moment later, Petra appeared and started slamming her pickaxe into the spider furiously, eyes blazing with anger as she furiously stabbed it. Three angry hits later, the spider exploded into smoke, dust, and some string.

"Petra?" Jesse gasped, doing her best to scramble to her feet.

The redhead turned to look at her with a hard expression, making Jesse shrink back in slight surprise, but all she said was, "C'mon. Let's get out of the open."

Jesse nodded in agreement, Petra stabbing a zombie and killing it in a single stroke as Jesse raced after her, scooping up some of the string that the spider had dropped when it had died. Without any further ado, Jesse raced after Petra, feeling relief spread through her chest.

Well, at least she could fulfill her promise to Reuben.

* * *

 **A/N: Wow, that was convenient. Jesse wishes Petra's there, Petra appears. xD**

 **But yeah, I'm really excited for stuff to actually start happening. Like, Witherstorm stuff. That's fun. xD**

 **Replies to reviews!**

 **homeworkoverload: That's good! / Ahahaha xD / Oh, that's good! / Yay! I don't know anything about hockey, but cool!**

 **CamronXTheXGamer: I think you mean 'could'. Or was that 'should'? xD**

 **NovaAurora10: Maybe! We'll have to see. xD**

 **Toni42: That's awesome, Toni-kun! Glad to see you're putting some pieces of the puzzle together x3**

 **Mooncake: I dunno, does he? 0-0**

 **TheAmberShadow: Haha, yeah, that's funny. That's also one of my favorites, although the 'No-Names' is also kind of funny. xD / HAHAHA OMG xD / Yeah, true, but simply using the same insults doesn't mean he's not good at getting people riled up. xD / Yeah, Maya's also nicer when Aiden's not around. (Not NICE per se, but nicER.) xD / Hehe xD / Jesse likes Lukas? 0-0**

 **AquaK13: Hm, maybe? / Haha, yeah. Keep in mind people who have the Fairytale Curse don't broadcast the fact at all.**

 **ShiningHopeBeast: I dunno...! / (shrugs)**

 **NoItsBecky: Haha, something like that.**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	6. Petra

"So why were you in the woods anyway?" Jesse asked, the two of them reaching what looked like an abandoned mineshaft that was relatively well-lit. Her heart was still thudding away, though at a much calmer speed than before, and she didn't want the silence to be awkward.

Petra gave a light shrug as she started down the wooden ladder, Jesse waiting for Petra to get at least halfway down so she didn't accidentally step on the redhead's face or anything embarrassing like that. "Actually, I'm not entirely sure of that myself. I just had this weird feeling that... y'know, I _should_ be there." Petra paused before adding hastily, "I mean, I know that's a lame excuse-"

"Actually, it really isn't. I get those feelings sometimes, too," Jesse replied, descending the ladder slowly in order to let Petra get off safely. "And y'know what, it just shows you have really good intuition- after all, I ended up needing you, didn't I?"

The redhead let out a light laugh. "Yeah, I guess." And then she fell silent.

Jesse thought perhaps she'd said the wrong thing, but when her feet hit the ground safely and she looked over at Petra again, the redhead was regarding her thoughtfully. "I wanna show you something," Petra said at last, beginning to walk through the mineshaft... which, now that Jesse took a closer look, was more a tunnel-like cave.

Huh.

"How far away is this thing you wanna show me?" Jesse asked, a bit curiously. It was also a valid question, because right now it was nighttime, and she needed a weapon to defend herself from mobs if she wanted to stay alive through the night.

"Careful how you phrase things, Jesse," Petra said, a light warning dancing on her tongue, "you don't wanna get a reputation as a wimp."

Jesse's hands automatically strayed to her chest and clasped there, tightening a little as she felt the familiar feeling of glass safely in the pocket, the beat thudding away safely.

If only Petra knew.

She let out a slightly sarcastic chuckle that was supposed to sound dry and annoyed but came out thin and slightly nervous. "This isn't my first time in a cave, Petra." And true, it wasn't. She'd been in a good amount of caves before. Just never without something to defend herself with.

"Yeah," Petra said, in an almost distracted voice as she turned to face Jesse, "but have you ever seen..." And a large grin crept its way over her face as she pulled out a skull that was blackened, almost burnt. It seemed smaller than a regular skull, not to mention more shriveled. "A Wither Skull?"

"Whoa!" Jesse gasped, eyes widening as she regarded the skull carefully with her hands still clasped at her chest. She knew you only got Wither Skulls from the Nether, and she'd never been to the Nether before, not even before she'd been cursed, and there was no way she was going to willingly step foot in there now, not with her new vulnerability. This was the first (and probably last) time she'd seen a Wither Skull.

Not when there was such a high likelihood that she was going to die.

"Fresh from the Nether," Petra almost boasted, "you're the first person I've showed it to."

"That's so cool!" Jesse breathed, more than a little enviously. "I wish I could do stuff like that."

Petra raised her eyebrow a little bit, a slightly confused smile on her face. "It's not _that_ hard to get a Wither Skull- you've just got to have skill and a Nether Portal. Maybe once you can fight better, I'll take you there."

" _No!_ "

Petra blinked at Jesse, pausing right in the middle of putting the Wither Skull away again and staring at Jesse in confusion. "What?"

Jesse realized she'd just said that out loud and forced a little laugh. "I mean... with the incident last year-" Jesse had been wondering if Petra remembered the 'incident', and judging by the way Petra's eyes tightened slightly, she remembered it very well- "it's probably not a good idea to get me anywhere dangerous. I'm way too clumsy- probably would just get us both killed."

Petra pursed her lips, considering this statement. "I mean... I know plenty of people who are clumsy and who are good adventurers."

"Oh yeah? Name one of 'em," Jesse challenged the redhead, accidentally interrupting Petra. It was a mark of the fact that they were friends that Petra didn't smack her for doing that.

Petra paused again, considering her statement and thinking it through for a moment, before hastening on, "Well, anyway, you'd just need to be more careful and not get anywhere too dangerous while in a fight, and you'd be fine."

 _In the Nether, nowhere's safe for me._

But Jesse didn't vocalize that this time- she just smiled at Petra slightly. "Glad you think so."

Petra patted her on the head- Jesse was truly jealous of tall people sometimes- and turned around, moving deeper into the cave. Jesse forced herself to take a deep breath- _in, out_ \- let her hands fall back to her sides, and hurry to catch up with Petra. "There's this guy I'm meeting up with at Endercon. He's gonna trade me a diamond for it. Being the resident go-getter pays off every once in a while."

Jesse squinted thoughtfully, considering the statement. "The guy you got the skull for... what's his deal?"

Petra considered the question before answering, slowly, "He's kinda strange, I guess. But hey, everybody's got their thing."

The cursed girl arched her brow. She was actually very proud of that expressional quirk- she could manage to only raise one brow and not both, while Olivia struggled to keep the other brow from moving with it and Axel just couldn't manage the expression. "And you never thought to ask him, 'hey, what's with your whole... totally normal... not at all weird... skull thing?'"

The redhead shrugged in return. "As long as the guy is willing to pay, I _earned_ that diamond."

Jesse gazed at Petra with undisguised admiration. "Wow," she said at last, some of that admiration leaking over into her voice.

Petra came to a stop, looking at Jesse with slight confusion. "Wow... what?" she asked, eyes roving over Jesse's admiring expression.

"In a _single day_ ," Jesse said, awe tinging her voice, "you went to the _Nether_ , you killed a Wither Skeleton... I mean, I did build a pretty cool statue, but, still. It's pretty sweet being you, huh?"

Petra paused again. Her dark eyes roved over Jesse's awed expression, before she hesitantly added, "You know... you could come with me." And she began walking again.

Jesse stared after her... sort of friend. She was pretty sure she'd heard the redhead wrong.

"I mean," Petra continued, and Jesse shook herself out of the little stupor she'd fallen into and raced to catch up with the redhead, "if you're too nervous, I totally get it. But I wouldn't mind a little backup."

Nope, apparently she hadn't heard Petra wrong.

"You want _me_ ," Jesse pointed at herself, to emphasize the 'me' even more, before reversing the point in Petra's direction, "to come with _you_."

"Consider it my charitable act for the day. I figure if you can't go on the exciting parts of the adventure 'cause you're clumsy right now," and Petra shrugged a little bit, giving Jesse a friendly sort of smirk, "you can at least come with on the parts that you _can_ go on."

Jesse's eyes practically glowed as a grin spread over her face. Okay, she _knew_ she said she tried to act less like a child on Christmas morning whenever she hung out with Petra, but there was nobody else in this cave- nobody cared. "I'll consider it whatever you want me to consider it," she almost gushed, "so long as I get to come."

They slowed to a stop, and now Jesse could see the crafting table and the chest that Petra had been leading her to. "D'you need to craft something before we head back to town?" Jesse asked, craning her head back to make eye contact with Petra.

Petra gave her a light pat on the head again, which made Jesse duck away from the redhead playfully. "Actually, you do. Since that wooden sword of yours got busted..."

Jesse's eyes widened as she realized what Petra was getting at. "You're giving me a new one?"

"Even better- you can make your own. One stick, plus two stones, equals one sword."

Jesse grinned at Petra. That was... extremely nice of Petra. She really didn't have to do all this for her.

That said, she couldn't help but tease a little. "I thought you said me coming with you for the deal was your charitable act for the day," she joked, making her way over to the chest and bending down, sifting through the contents carefully to avoid making a mess- well, more of a mess than there already was, anyways.

Petra grinned back at Jesse lopsidedly. "That was. This is me helping a friend out."

Jesse almost stopped poking through the chest at that. Petra considered her a friend...?

"Nice of you to do that," she replied smoothly, once she recovered from the slight shock of Petra saying she absolutely considered Jesse a friend. That was a little surprising. Jesse'd thought they were kind of in the acquaintances-becoming-friends stage still.

Petra bowed sarcastically, making Jesse giggle. "Thank you, thank you ever so much," she joked back, which made Jesse have to turn back to keep peeking through the chest to hide the fact that she was going to start giggling madly.

Finally, after ten seconds of poking through the chest, Jesse let out a light sound. "Oh, here we go!" And picking up the sticks and stones in her hands, she let the lid of the chest fall and moved to the crafting table, quickly placing down the ingredients in the correct sequence. Instantly, they shivered together into a glowing clump before solidifying into a stone sword with a puff of smoke.

Grinning, Jesse picked it up, testing the weight in her hand. It was actually pretty decently weighted considering the blade was made out of stone, and didn't feel like those really big swords that were sold at obscene prices in shops- sometimes people tried to sell those to her, and Jesse often pointed out the small fact (tiny, really) that the sword was nearly _twice her height_. Not to mention that some of them were thicker than her fist.

"See?" Petra grinned at Jesse, "isn't it better when you make it yourself?"

The black-haired girl looked up from the stone sword, grinning widely at her friend. "It really is."

* * *

"Check it out," Petra nodded, pointing to some lights in the distance, "Endercon's all lit up."

Jesse steeled herself to be disappointed- after all, Olivia was right, a rainbow beacon had a high difficulty score, and was an impressive build otherwise, and turned to see what Petra was pointing at-

And promptly trying to smother a delighted squeal and failing miserably at the sight of bursts of color exploding above Endercon. "No way- we won!" she squeaked happily, jumping up and down in excitement and making Petra grin at her in amusement. "The Enderman was the right way to go!"

"Good for you, Jesse," Petra responded encouragingly.

Jesse finally managed to stop acting like a little kid and put her hands on her hips. "It's about time we beat Lukas and his gang of jerks," she added, a determined tone entering her voice, "what kinda name is the Ocelots, anyway?"

Actually, it wasn't a bad name, but Jesse wasn't about to admit that within earshot of the Ocelots- they'd probably start making fun of her.

Petra hesitated at what Jesse said, her smile falling slightly. "You know," she spoke up at last, "Lukas might be kind of arrogant, but he's come through for me in tricky situations. You might want to get to know him... just in case."

Jesse stayed silent as she considered this. Really, Lukas wasn't that much of a jerk compared to the rest of his teammates. He'd even visited her in the hospital after her accident (her hands twitched, but she congratulated herself as she managed not to automatically reach up and clasp at her glass heart).

"He's good at building, that's for sure."

Jesse still stayed silent, still thinking. He tended to avoid her eyes nowadays. And avoid her in general- she didn't know exactly why.

"It's always useful to have a guy like that around, no matter what you might think of him personally."

"Yeah," Jesse finally agreed, slowly, "you might be right."

"I'm just saying," Petra coaxed, "if you run into him at Endercon, try talking to him."

Jesse crossed her arms and gave Petra a squinty look. Not a hard one or anything- just one that seemed slightly annoyed. "I don't need a lecture on the power of collaboration, Petra."

"How about a lecture on the power of my fists?" Petra replied, almost casually. "It's short, but _deadly_."

If Petra had been anyone else, Jesse would've happily retaliated, but judging by the uncharacteristically innocent expression on Petra's face, it might be a good idea not to provoke the redhead anymore- otherwise Petra might actually give her that 'lecture', friends or not. "C'mon, let's hurry up."

They began walking across the bridge towards the other side. "Remember what Endercon was like _before_ it was cool?" Petra asked, a little nostalgically.

"Yeah," Jesse grinned fondly as well. She remembered that well, actually. The first year Endercon had blown up was, well, three years ago.

Right before she'd been cursed.

Jesse's nostalgic smile faded, and she almost swore aloud except that Petra was right next to her and she'd have to explain why she was suddenly swearing randomly. She swore that her brain just did everything it could to drag _that issue_ up to the surface whenever she was happy and cheerful and had actually managed to forget about it even for a minute. She could understand when she was in danger or when she was unhappy, but even when she felt happy... well, it wears on you.

She was thankfully saved by Petra muttering her own swear. Shaking herself out of her slight reverie, she let out a gasp at the sight of three creepers hissing and eagerly approaching the two humans. "Creepers!" she exclaimed, realizing a second later that she'd basically just stated the obvious.

" _Crap_ ," Petra muttered, looking behind her. Jesse twisted and almost groaned at the sight of zombies and a few more creepers making their way out of the cave as well.

The creepers began to make their way across the bridge towards the duo, the zombies following suit and lurching towards the group. "This... doesn't look good," Petra mumbled, edging backwards and turning so that she was back-to-back with Jesse.

Jesse made an audible gulping noise as she pressed her back into Petra's, blinking uncertainly at the monsters approaching. Then she tentatively looked down over the edge of the bridge, to the river down below them. The ground seemed to move even further away the longer she looked.

"Well," Petra said, a little shakily, "there's only one way off this bridge." The monsters were closing in. "Whatever we do, we do it together."

Jesse quickly guessed and second-guessed herself twenty times in the course of a few seconds. Then she made a decision. Fighting these monsters- so many of them- was pretty much just suicide. There was no way they'd be able to fight through all of them without a problem happening. Jesse'd already gotten lucky once tonight. She didn't want to test that luck.

"We jump," Jesse told Petra. "It's not a good idea to just stay and fight them all."

Petra shot the approaching monsters a look. "Agreed."

"Here we go!" And Jesse tensed her knees and leaped forward away from the bridge as far as possible, feeling weightless for a full second...

... before gravity slowly tightened its fingers on her and she started falling. " _Woohoo!_ " she cheered, trying to clear any fear out of her body with the cheer.

It worked. The air practically shook with vibrations and explosions behind her as the creepers detonated behind her, Petra falling just behind her with her red hair fluttering in the wind as gravity pulled them towards the blue water, and yet Jesse didn't feel scared at all- she only felt excited.

After what felt like minutes but was probably only a few seconds, Jesse tensed just before she hit the water. Water sluiced into her nose and almost made her cough as it went down her throat, but she managed to hold her breath somehow.

For a moment, up and down made no sense and the only thing around her was water. Jesse probably should've been worried about drowning, but for some reason the thought never crossed her mind.

Then she bobbed to the surface, spitting out a small mouthful of water and raking her soaking-wet hair out of her face. She looked over to see Petra doing the same, shaking her head furiously so that water droplets spit off of her hair.

Jesse laughingly threw her arms up to avoid getting even wetter, though there wasn't much point right now seeing as she was pretty much chest-deep in water. "Hey, don't get me wetter here!" she couldn't help but laugh, even though they could've died just now, even though they probably _would_ have died just now, her glass heart was thudding away at the speed of light, her clothes were soaked, and she'd just gotten water up her nose.

Petra rolled her eyes and playfully shook herself off, spraying Jesse again and making the shorter girl whine playfully in complaint.

But for the first time in three years, Jesse wasn't feeling afraid at all.

* * *

 **A/N: More fluff! Stuff will... probably go to hell soon though xD so don't get used to it.**

 **I like how so many people correctly guessed Aiden's curse, and correctly guessed one aspect of breaking it... but nobody got the entire answer correct xD**

 **I love this story so much, I've got plans x3**

 **Replies to reviews!**

 **Mooncake: (giggles) / (grins)**

 **homeworkoverload: YesAidendoeshavethatcurseandLukasdoeshaveacursethathastodowithJessebutnothercurse. xD / No I have not!**

 **TheAmberShadow: Yes, he does, and yes, that's one aspect... but not the entire way of breaking his curse. (Grins) / (shrugs) / Indeed. / No, it would not. I would explain why but that's spoilers. xD**

 **ShiningHopeBeast: Yes it would!**

 **AquaK13: Haha, true. xD / He will break it in Sky City, and you did get part of the curse-breaking process, but not the entire process. / Indeed. / No xD**

 **Toni42: Indeed. (Winks) / Yeah, if you're gonna die by fire, then that's not fun. / (shrugs)**

 **NoItsBecky: Convenience, haha... yeah... / There's more than one witch ya know xD**

 **Princess of Muffins: Probably not. / Yeah, haha... lucky... / Ahahaha, yep. xD**

 **Katie: I update once a week, so maybe sometime later this week. x3**

 **CamronXTheXGamer: Ahhh x3 / Yep~**

 **Guest: Correct!**

 **Welp, that's all for now. See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	7. Deal in a Dark Alleyway

"Just let me know if you see Reuben anywhere," Jesse said to Petra, aware of the odd looks people were currently shooting the duo– they were soaking wet and leaving a very wet, shiny trail behind them. The two of them were currently walking into Endercon, the bass of the music that they always played drumming through the ground even at the very entrance.

"He's gotta be here somewhere," Petra said reassuringly, reaching out and squeezing Jesse's shoulder.

Jesse just made an anxious little sighing sound, reaching up and brushing her hands across the glass surface of her heart. Not that she could feel the heart through the denim of her overalls, but the fact that it was there, no cracks, no damage... well, that was a major relief. "I hope you're right," she said in reply.

Petra gave a vague nod, before pausing and giving Jesse a slightly nervous look. "So, when we're making the deal," the redhead spoke, slowly and carefully as if she was trying to avoid offending Jesse, "I need you to... let me do the talking, okay?" And she shot Jesse a quick grin that was tinged with a good amount of nervous energy. "I just... don't want anything to screw this up." Another short, nervous pause. "Or... any _one_."

"Sure," Jesse agreed, feeling a huge rush of relief enter her system. At least Petra wasn't throwing her into the deep end of a pool and telling her to learn how to swim. She could just watch... and maybe pick up a few things. "I'll let you handle it."

"And, if you want to be _really_ useful," Petra added, "try to look intimidating."

Jesse almost came to a halt, but the walking was letting the water in her shoes stop squishing around, so she didn't. As it was, her walking stalled for a moment, one foot pausing before it came down all the way, before calmly resuming its pace, skipping a beat as casually as she could. "I... think you should know by now that I'm about as intimidating as a potato."

Petra teasingly flicked her still-really-wet hair at Jesse in response, making the shorter girl duck with a little yelp of laughter as Petra proceeded to basically flick a thimbleful of water at her.

"Jesse!"

Jesse looked up at the shout to see Axel, the shouter, and Olivia walking towards the duo, looking immensely relieved at the sight of Jesse being alive and well. If a bit wet.

Jesse glanced down at her wet shoes, feeling the water squish in them as she shifted her weight. Make that a _lot_ wet.

"And..." Olivia came to a stop, looking confused. "Petra?"

Jesse gave a little wave. "Yeah, she was taking a scenic walk in the woods at night while I was looking for Reuben," she remarked jokingly, making Petra flick her wet hair at Jesse again.

"Couldn't find him, huh?" Axel asked, mouth thinning into a grim line as his dark eyes scanned the group and came up short one tiny, pink pig.

"He'll turn up sooner or later, I just _know_ it!" Olivia assured Jesse, although from the shaken expression on Olivia's face she was doing her best to convince herself of the fact.

Jesse nodded at Olivia and gave her a weak little grin. Since Olivia had said it, it was going to be true. It _had_ to be true. She wasn't going to believe otherwise until solid proof came up. "I found him, but... before I knew what was happening, we were under attack by a zombie horde. I told him to run," she explained, hand tightening over her heart nervously, "it was for his own good."

Axel paused, before frowning and glancing at Petra curiously. "What were you doing in the woods, Petra?"

Petra and Jesse automatically glanced at one another. They both knew that _neither_ of them actually knew what Petra had been doing in the woods– as Petra had put it, she'd gone into the woods on a gut feeling. They also both knew that that sounded sort of hokey, so Petra said, dismissively, "Nothing, just... drawn by the sound of Jesse's high-pitched screams."

"I nearly ate a spider before she found me," Jesse agreed.

Olivia and Axel both made a grossed-out sound– and believe me, neither of them were as grossed out by that as Jesse was– before pausing and turning to get a better look at their build, the Enderman towering so high above them that its shadow nearly eclipsed the ground. "But, hey, we won!" Olivia said, in a voice that was so bubbly that it was extremely clear that it was fake.

"Abandoning friends in their time of need paid off yet again," Axel muttered, much more glumly.

Jesse frowned. It wasn't _their_ fault that Reuben had gotten lost.

"I still wish that I'd gotten that part in the back to look better," Olivia mumbled, her own bubbly tone fading into the normal pessimistic-but-loveable Olivia tone, her eyes narrowing at the build.

"I could've fit in more fireworks... somewhere..."

Jesse fixed a grin on her face and stepped over in front of them, giving them a happy grin. "Aw, c'mon, I'm _proud_ of you guys!" she told them cheerfully, forcing herself to move her hands so that they weren't guarding her heart anymore. After all, Reuben _had_ to turn up _somewhere_ , and they _had_ won, and they _had_ done a good job on their statue.

Axel and Olivia both turned to look at their short friend. When it became clear that she was being sincere, Axel let a reluctant but soft grin come over his face as he reached over to rub her head. (Jesse avoided the rub easily– since he was leaning over Olivia to rub her head, she just had to duck out of range.) "Aw, shucks," he said, letting the reluctant grin grow a little bit.

"Don't make me blush," Olivia muttered, giving Jesse a grin, before letting it fall. "Seriously. _Don't_."

Petra cleared her throat, drawing Jesse's attention back to her. "Hey, Jesse, it's time to see about that... thing."

It actually took Jesse a full second to realize what that meant, but then her eyes widened as she figured out what Petra was talking about. "Oh, right, the... thing."

"Subtle."

Jesse looked over at Olivia with a little grin. "Yeah?"

"As a punch to the face," Olivia finished, flatly, making Jesse hide a huge grin at that. "Axel and I were gonna head into Endercon anyway. See you in there?"

"I heard somebody saying there was free cake by the map booth!" Axel said cheerfully, as if that decided it. Olivia gave her eyes a cheerful roll and turned around, following him into the convention. Petra waited until they were out of earshot, before stepping closer to Jesse and lowering her voice.

"Hurry– we're supposed to meet in that alley over there."

Jesse twisted to see the alley in question. It just looked kind of dark– but hey, dark equals no fire, which equals most probably safe.

Probably.

She allowed Petra to take the lead and walk into the alley, the light levels fading the moment they stepped in more than three feet. In the center of the alley was an area large enough for up to maybe five people to meet comfortably in there, lit by only a few redstone torches. This forced Jesse to perpetually squint if she wanted to see any details of the area.

Petra abruptly came to a halt, making a confused humming sound. "That's... weird. He said the dark... creepy alley close to the gates, but he's not here. Maybe he's late."

Jesse gently eased her way into said dark, creepy alley. The redstone torches threw dramatic shadows over Petra's face, her face a pale oval in the near-blackness of the alley. "You sure this is the... dark, creepy alley he meant?" she asked.

It was a valid question– when one says a 'dark, creepy alley', that narrows down the list of alleys to about half the total alleys in Endercon. And you'd be surprised as to how many there were.

Petra frowned, her expression darkening slightly in confusion. "Huh... I _was_." She considered this for another minute longer, before clapping her hands together and looking right at Jesse. Or, at least, Jesse was pretty sure that's what she did. "Okay, new plan. You stay here, just in case this _is_ the spot he meant, and I'll look around. I guess I could've heard him wrong..." Petra's voice paused. "Then again, I've never gotten a meet-up spot wrong before."

"Okay," Jesse said agreeably, "I'll hold down the fort."

"Thanks, Jesse," Petra replied, already starting to walk away, "I'll be back before you know it. If he shows up while I'm gone, just stall for me."

And then she was gone.

Jesse stood still for a moment, allowing the faraway sounds of Endercon to whisper through the alley as her vision slowly adjusted to the darkness. As it did so, she spotted something that she hadn't noticed before– a chest.

She crouched by it, frowning slightly as she examined it. Who would stick a chest in the alley? Was this someone's storage area or something? Did the guy Petra was trading with arrange a meeting in a different alley, then?

" _Ahem._ "

Jesse wished she could say she'd simply stood up and turned around. As it was, she'd let out a very high-pitched squeak, leaped to her feet, and turned around in a single breath, eyes flicking around wildly and searching for the source of the voice. At first, there was only the darkness of the alley.

The sound of shoe heels tapping on the ground greeted her ears as she nervously took a step back, her calves running right into the chest behind her. In the span of two blinks, a man seemed to materialize out of the shadows. His black hair almost blended in with the darkness of the alley, and– it was hard to make out in the light– but the man's robes went down far enough to show the tips of his black, scuffed shoes, and somewhere around his midriff something glinted in the dim light. He had a beard as black as his hair, which was painfully obvious against his pale face.

Which wasn't that obvious in the shadowy light. He was still half in the shadows, and the dim light was really not helping matters at all.

"And just who are _you?_ " he asked, voice so icy that it sent little chills crawling up her spine.

Jesse was frozen with fear. The way he'd just appeared, almost out of the shadows... her mind was racing. Was he a demon? No, he couldn't be, he would be in the Nether otherwise and wouldn't have had to ask Petra to get him a Wither Skull. A witch? No, same problem, he could've just gone to get one himself. Heck, a witch wouldn't even _need_ a Wither Skull. A reaper? No, that was even more ridiculous.

"I'm waiting."

Maybe he was just good at theater. He might've just set up the alley for maximum dramatic flair. Jesse wouldn't know.

"Answer me!"

Jesse's tongue finally unfroze. "I'm–!" She cleared her throat, trying to lower her voice back into a vaguely normal register, "I'm Jesse."

"I'm supposed to meet with Petra, not a–" A pause. Jesse couldn't see his face very well, so she had no idea why he'd paused. "Not whatever _you're_ supposed to be."

Jesse was tempted to reply, "A human being," but she felt like that might be a little rude, and besides, her tongue was still currently tied up in knots.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just walk out of here right now!"

"I'm– I'm with– Petra," Jesse stammered a little bit, but managed to keep her voice relatively calm. _Go, you!_

"My deal is with _her_ ," the man snapped, "not her _partner_."

Jesse stumbled over her words a little in her haste to calm him down. "She'll be here! I'm, I'm just... she was worried that she'd gotten the meeting place wrong, so she wanted to check and make sure she was correct. I'm just here in case you showed up after she left. Which, uh, which you did... a-anyway, she's got the skull, and she'll be back any second now."

The man was silent for a moment. The pallor of his face in the dim light was the only thing that told Jesse that he was still there.

He finally let out an irritated huff. "Well, as long as she's coming... I suppose it wouldn't _kill_ me to wait a minute longer."

An awkward silence lapsed over the alleyway, the only audible noise being their breathing.

Jesse finally cleared her throat a little bit, gesturing up above her head and hoping he could see the movement. "Um, so, why's the alley so... dark?" she asked at last, meekly.

"It just is." Jesse flinched a little at the knife-sharp tone in his voice, and decided to just keep her mouth shut tighter than a stubborn pickle jar lid from that point on.

Another several seconds passed, in which Jesse's vision was slowly beginning to adapt so that she could actually see the man. His dark hair drooped to his shoulders, and the glint at his midriff that Jesse had seen earlier was actually a dark stone surrounded by a gold border, attached to a dark belt.

"Ivor."

Jesse breathed a silent thanks to whatever deity existed as Ivor spoke, sounding much more pleasant as Petra walked back into the alley, bumping her shoulder into Jesse's. "Ah... here she is."

"Sorry I'm late," Petra responded, her own voice light and pleasant, "but, good things are worth waiting for. I've got what you asked for."

"You didn't mention a partner when we first met," Ivor replied, voice darkening again, as he shot Jesse a sort of glare, and Jesse winced. "And I don't like surprises. If these are the sorts of people you associate with–"

Okay, well, Jesse didn't feel like that was fair. She'd been polite, and she hadn't said anything out of the ordinary. However, the tone of his voice... it was brimming with something that Jesse couldn't quite identify.

"Perhaps we should call the whole thing off."

"My friend is fine, right, Jesse?" Petra blurted out, sounding a little nervous but still cool and calm as usual as she turned a sharp look that threatened a bruise or a possible broken bone if Jesse didn't agree immediately. "There's no problem here. Let's not be hasty, okay? This is just a little misunderstanding."

Jesse nodded quickly, putting her hands up in surrender. "I'm cool if he's cool," she said, meekly.

Ivor didn't agree with the statement. But he didn't snap or anything, either. He just stared coldly at Jesse.

"See? You're both cool," Petra said, placatingly.

"Proceed, then," Ivor said, in a voice that was almost eerie.

Jesse shivered.

There was some rustling as Petra withdrew the skull from her pocket, extending it to Ivor. Ivor reached out and took it, examining it carefully, and slowly letting a strange smile come over his face– but not exactly one of happiness. No, it contained an almost satisfied anger.

"I'll take that diamond now," Petra finally spoke, as if reminding Ivor of the deal.

"Take it. You've earned it."

Jesse hesitated, before glancing at the chest currently behind her legs. Was that _Ivor's_? Had he just put the diamond in there?

She shifted aside, allowing Petra to get down and open the chest. The redhead groped around in the chest for a moment, before her shoulders tensed– Jesse could feel that even from up here. "This... isn't a diamond."

Jesse felt something block her windpipe– for a second, she couldn't breathe. "Um... what?"

Petra straightened up, her expression practically blazing with anger, and she pushed the object that she'd just withdrawn from the chest at Jesse. The shorter girl nearly fumbled the object before her fingers tightened around it– and then her eyes widened in realization. She recognized that shape.

"Lapis?"

"Of all the dirty, underhanded tricks to pull," Petra nearly _snarled_ , "I can't believe that guy got one over on _me._ " It might've been Jesse's imagination, but Petra's eyes seemed to be glowing with fury, like red-hot embers in a fire. The color of her eyes wasn't the normal dark brown, either– they _looked_ red.

"Petra...?"

"What?" Petra blinked, or Jesse blinked, and Petra's eyes were back to normal, dark brown, if not a little angry.

Probably just a trick of the light, then. It _was_ pretty dark in here. They'd probably just caught the light weirdly.

"... um, never mind."

Petra gave Jesse a strange look, before making a disgruntled sound and beginning to run after Ivor, Jesse hastily moving to follow. "Screw _this_ , we're going after him."

They burst out of the alley, Jesse flinching a little as the light abruptly assaulted her eyes, turning a corner and racing to find Ivor. "I'm either getting that diamond, or I'm beating the tar out of him," Petra snarled, with such ferocity in her voice that Jesse nearly balked.

Well, but then again, when Petra got cheated out of her deals, she could get pretty nasty. A couple people had learned that the hard way. Jesse had learned the easy way, thankfully.

"Um, that... works?"

They attracted some weird looks as they burst onto the streets, looking around. "Do you see him anywhere?" Petra asked, eyes scanning the landscape intently.

Jesse looked through the booths and the people, but there was such an explosion of color and milling around and weirdness that she would've had better luck spotting an exact tree in a forest. "I think we lost him," Jesse replied after a moment, shaking her head.

"Well, then we're just going to have to find him again." Petra turned, eyes narrowed in anger. "Go!"

Giving Petra a nod, Jesse split away from the red-haired girl, moving into the crowd and slowing to a more normal walk to avoid attracting everyone within a twenty-yard-radius's attention. So, now it was up to her (partially) to find a kind of creepy guy wearing robes that she didn't know the exact color of, a belt with a dark-colored stone with a gold border, and black hair.

How hard could that be?

* * *

 **A/N: Pretty hard I think xD**

 **Welp, chapters are gonna start getting longer. Expect things to start going extremely wrong in... three to six chapters. xD**

 **And seriously... I guess I did a good job on making some of the curses/ways to break the curse very hard to guess. Also, cutting things off here, only ONE curse in the ENTIRE series/book involves romance to break it, and it's not Jesse's.**

 **LunarTheMooncake: Oh. Uhhhh, yep. xD**

 **CamronXTheXGamer: That's for me to know, and you to eventually find out. :3**

 **TheAmberShadow: Actually, none of them, I'm surprised. / Haha, yep, that's gonna be fun for me to write. x3 / That IS a factor, but that's not it. / I always thought it was a temporary thing– like, just a quick base for when she heads to the Nether to get stuff or something like that.**

 **NovaAurora10: (thumbs up) / (simply smiles)**

 **homeworkoverload: (Pats) Yep. Yep it is. / Bleh. (shrugs) / It's not actually the correct answer though so... xD / (hugs)**

 **Intalesoffates: Thanks! It took me a while to come up with completely, and I'm glad that so many people seem to be so invested in it. / Haha, yeah, that's the immediate thing I thought of for Aiden. / You have one and a half correct in that list of ways to break the list, but I'm not telling you which ones. / Aw, thank you! I'm glad that you think they're good– it's taken me a while to build up to this point, and I'm hoping I can get better as well.**

 **WitchOfLesbian: Nope, not at all. There's no way that witch would allow Jesse's curse to be so easy to break. xD / Uh, nope, that's not correct either. xD Aiden DOES get... kinda redeemed? I try to do that most of my stories, since I can't help but feel bad for the villains. And also the way I write things, they're not actually all that bad. / (grins) You do realize that things are extremely similar to canon because it's still the first episode, right? Once we get to the Nether, THAT'S when things start changing pretty drastically. / Nope, his and Jesse's curses are... ... well, actually they're technically a little connected, but it's not that. xD / (thumbs up) / (pats) / Thank you! I hope you continue to read the story, and enjoy!**

 **Princess of Muffins: I will say this much, over 20 people have the curse. Good luck guessing who and what xD / (squints) Actually... ... actually, scratch that, not gonna say anything. / Probably just because he was a jerk. The witch's don't like people being jerks, as you can probably tell from the prologue. xD / Hmm, d'you think?**

 **NoItsBecky: (chuckles) / Lol, yep. / You find out later.**

 **Toni42: Lol, nope, she just really loves water. (Well, as far as I know, you can't catch on fire when you're in the water. xD) / Nah I'm excited to write it so xD**

 **AquaK13: Well, they HAVE known each other for a while. / (laughs) / (chuckles) I think so too. It's not a bad song, though. / Yeah, that wouldn't be very good.**

 **Guest: Almost _nothing_ is known about his curse except that he's cursed. xD**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	8. Conversations (Can Go Downhill)

Jesse began to make her way through the crowd, ducking and moving through.

And blinking a lot. After the darkness of the alley, the light of Endercon was making her eyes water a little. It wasn't _that_ bright or anything, but her eyes were still struggling to adjust.

Yippee.

"There he is!" Jesse was abruptly shoved to one side as people swarmed past her, racing for a man wearing dark blue armor– _Gabriel the Warrior_ – and being stopped by a burly blonde in a blue shirt as he blocked the way. "Gabriel! Gabriel!"

"Step aside, please," the burly blonde drawled.

Jesse took a deep, shaky breath, hands tightening over her heart, which was thudding away faster than usual. If she'd fallen and landed the wrong way...

... well, maybe she shouldn't think about that.

Regaining her composure, Jesse straightened up to her full height– which, honestly, was not that impressive– and continued walking through the crowd, gently weaving her way through the throng currently trying to get past the usher. (Was that what he was?)

"I just have one question!"

"Hold all your questions until after the keynote."

"But the keynote's sold out!"

"Hold all your questions anyway."

Jesse had to restrain a giggle there.

A moment later, she spotted Lukas leaning against a booth with his hands buried deep in his pockets, staring off into the distance with a thoughtful expression on his face. She hesitated only a moment before approaching him. He might've spotted Ivor, right?

Or... someone dressed the way Ivor was, at least. The dimness of the alley really did not help finding the guy any easier; Jesse didn't know anything about the color of his robes.

Lukas glanced over at Jesse when she'd reached him, blinking a bit in what looked like surprise. "'Sup," Jesse said, because she didn't really know what else to say.

"'Sup."

As usual, Jesse got the feeling that something was off with the blonde. It wasn't his expression, it was the same pensive, patient look he usually had on his face, and it wasn't his hair– well, not that Jesse would know if anything was off with his hair, but it looked the same as usual– and it wasn't his clothing, so _what was it?_

"Nothing," Jesse replied simply, before replying, mostly just to be polite, "'Sup with you?"

"Nothing. 'Sup with _you_?"

Jesse blinked. "I just said... nothing."

Lukas considered this for a moment, before giving her a smile and lifting his right hand to rub the back of his neck. "Uh, so... congrats on the win." The shy smile he gave was at odds with the usual thoughtful expression he had on his face. "I mean, I still think our beacon was _amazing_ , but... you guys did a good job too. I mean, the whole monster theme was plenty cool, but... fireworks, too?"

Jesse blinked again as Lukas shut his mouth, his cheeks turning faintly pink from the short monologue that he'd just rambled out.

"Thanks," she said, and allowed a warmer smile to creep over her face. "Your rainbow beacon wasn't too shabby."

Lukas's expression grew more serious. "You don't have to do that, okay?" he responded, sincerely. When he saw the blank expression that she knew was on her face, because she didn't understand what he meant by that, she _didn't understand what he meant_ , he amended the statement, "you guys won fair and square. You don't have to..." Lukas paused, before making a vague motion with the hand not in his pocket.

Jesse paused. "Anyway... you didn't happen to spot a guy with long hair and a beard and... um... a weird belt walking around, did you?" she asked, deciding to get back to what she'd come up to him to ask in the first place.

Lukas frowned thoughtfully, considering this for a moment, before giving his head a shake. "I don't think so. Why?"

"He kinda scammed Petra out of a diamond earlier."

Lukas's blue eyes widened in surprise at that. "Whoa. Everyone knows you don't mess with Petra." He paused, a more pensive expression coming back over his face. "Not if you know what's good for you." He thought about this for a few seconds, before lifting his eyes and giving Jesse a determined look. "I'll keep an eye out, okay?"

"Thanks. I appreciate it," Jesse replied, sincerely.

An awkward silence settled over the two. With the history of rivalry between the two teams, the silence wasn't quiet and normal at all– it was just awkward. The hustle and bustle of Endercon around them kept the silence from getting too quiet, but... still. Jesse was pretty sure one of them should break the silence.

Lukas did just that a second later, an almost anxious expression coming over his face. "So, uh... we're cool?" he asked, hesitantly, his left hand digging deeper into his left pocket.

There was still something off about Lukas. But Jesse just couldn't place _what_.

Jesse considered that for a moment. Sure, Lukas's team bullied her, but Lukas himself seemed nice, even if there _was_ something off about him. And he seemed very willing to get along with her, and maybe even be friends with her. So... why not?

"Yeah." She nodded, giving him a quick smile. "We're cool."

"Cool, cool." Lukas nodded, sagely.

"Cool beans."

"Cool-o-rama."

Jesse couldn't help but giggle at that one, bringing one hand up to her mouth to smother the laugh that threatened to bubble out of her, with limited success. When the moment had passed, she let her hand drop, giving Lukas a friendly grin. "See ya later, Lukas."

"Yeah, see ya."

Jesse nodded and moved off into the crowd again. Not ten seconds later, she spotted Axel laughing at some sort of chicken machine. She quickly altered her path to walk straight over to Axel.

"Thought you could just wiggle right out of that trap, didn't you?" Axel taunted a chicken that was running around, "well, wiggle as much as you want. You're not going anywhere."

Jesse jumped up and poked Axel in the cheek– with how absorbed he was in this machine, whatever it was, she was going to have to if she wanted to attract his attention. "Axel, hey. Have you spotted a weird... beard-y guy anywhere?" She highly doubted it, since he was watching a chicken machine, but it didn't hurt to ask.

"No. Petra told me what happened, I'm keeping an eye out for him." Axel's attention didn't even budge from the chicken machine.

Jesse poked him. With her being as short as she was– and with Axel being as _tall_ as he was– it was really the only way to get his attention, short of shouting at him.

"Okay, okay, so I got a little distracted. It's just, this machine presses all of my buttons. Unnecessarily complicated and mean to birds for no reason. It's just, when something like this calls? You gotta answer."

"We really need your help, Axel," Jesse responded, putting her hands on her hips, "if we don't find the guy soon, we might never find him."

"I was looking," Axel protested, his eyes _still_ fixated on the chicken machine. "I just got distracted."

Jesse changed tack. "Have you seen Reuben? I was hoping he made it to town while I was _distracted_." She purposefully put extra emphasis on 'distracted' to try to make her point. Of course, Axel was about as perceptive as a brick, so he didn't notice.

"Haven't seen hide nor hair. But I'm sure he's fine. He's a tough little ham." Axel was _still_ staring at the chicken machine.

The short girl tried one more change of tack, at the speed of light. It was one that was probably going to speed up her heartbeat– actually, scratch that, she could feel her glass heart already starting to pound away faster and harder against her chest, thudding away at a sharp speed. So, she might as well. "I caught on fire earlier," she replied, casually.

Or, as casually as she could. Despite the way she forced a calm tone to enter her voice, the slightest tremor snuck into her voice as she spoke those five words.

" _Whoa wait what?!_ " Axel spun around to stare at Jesse, eyes wide with shock.

Jesse put her hands on her hips, giving him an annoyed look that was softened by a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach, one that appeared at the fact that Axel– even though he was easily distracted, even though he was kind of mean and played pranks on her sometimes, even though he was a huge dork with an attention span the size of a teacup– cared enough that he'd drop everything the moment she mentioned that she was in danger.

"Now that I have your attention, could you please go look for the guy? We really need your help here, Axel."

Axel relaxed when he realized it was a ploy to get her attention, a slightly playful scowl coming over his face. It was tinged with quite a lot of nervous relief. "Don't _do_ that," he muttered, although there wasn't any bite to his voice. "Scared the heck out of me."

Jesse gently head-butted him in response. "Then don't ignore me," she replied chirpily, giving him a pat and moving off into the crowd again. A surreptitious glance over her shoulder showed that Axel was absentmindedly rubbing the area that she'd head-butted while moving away from the chicken machine, and she turned back to the front–

And promptly walked straight into Aiden.

"Hey! Watch where you're–" Aiden's voice abruptly cut off as Jesse backed away two steps to get a better look at him. She really hated being short sometimes. If she was only about a foot or two away from the person, she had to crane her head back to get a good look at people. This made her look even smaller than she actually was.

"Well, if it isn't Coal."

Jesse couldn't help flinching a little at the insulting nickname.

"How's your _stupid_ pig? I hear intense heat causes brain damage."

Jesse felt tears pricking her eyes at that, her breathing quickening, her glass heart– which had been starting to calm back down from what she'd just said to Axel– starting to speed up again.

It wasn't that the insult was directed at both her _and_ Reuben, who was _still_ missing– no, it was just the fact that one little incautious movement around fire, one little accident, and she was going to go up in flames. Heck, she'd gotten _very_ close to it last year.

That little reminder was easily scarier than anything you could whip up or take straight out of a horror movie.

" _Does_ boost the flavor something crazy–" Aiden abruptly cut himself off again, and when he spoke again his voice was more shocked than anything. "Are– are you _crying?_ "

Jesse belatedly realized that, quite against her will, tears were now streaming down her cheeks in tiny twin waterfalls. She hadn't even realized that the tears had made their way out of her eyes. Even being quite damp from her unscheduled swim with Petra earlier, the tears currently making their way down her face had to be unmistakable.

"No."

... that was easily the worst lie Jesse had ever told, especially because tears were currently streaming down her face and she was quite obviously crying. She debated adding a sarcastic remark to the 'no', but she just wasn't in the mood. Getting reminders about how she was going to die a very painful, fiery death if she didn't break her stupid curse– which, joy of joys, currently seemed to have _no_ method to be broken– was not something Jesse enjoyed.

Obviously.

"... well, either you're crying, or you're leaking water from your eyes."

Jesse laughed a little at that, but the laugh got stuck in her throat and ended up sounding like a sob. Which it wasn't. _Notch_ , she shouldn't be this upset about it, she shouldn't be crying, if anything she should be furious at Aiden right now for talking about Reuben like that, and she was. If she wrenched aside the fear currently bubbling up in her chest, there was a hard knot of anger at her core.

But the fear was definitely eclipsing the anger right now.

"I– okay, stop, _why_ are you crying–?" Aiden now sounded slightly panicked. He probably didn't know how to deal with crying girls, from a reaction like that. Jesse vaguely wondered if Maya had ever cried in front of Aiden. Then she wondered why she'd wondered that.

People were starting to look at the two of them oddly, mainly because Jesse was actively crying– maybe not full-out _bawling_ or throwing a tantrum, but anyone who took a second look would definitely see that Aiden looked alarmed and that Jesse was clearly crying. There were currently tears streaming out of her eyes, which was a bit alarming to Jesse because _why_ was she crying–?

"Okay, uh, would you _please_ stop crying–"

"Well, _maybe_ if you'd stop reminding me about the fact that I–"

Oh, Jesse's voice was working again. Be careful. Don't slip. Don't just scream that you're cursed in the middle of a public place, because the volume of Jesse's voice was currently rising to a dangerous level and she wasn't trying to tell everyone at Endercon that she had the Fairytale Curse.

"– nearly _died_ last year because I tripped into a freaking _campfire_ , I _might not have started crying in the **first** place_!"

Jesse's ears burned with embarrassment– she'd started at a hiss and slowly graduated to nearly _screaming_ at Aiden.

There were definitely a lot of people staring at the two of them now. Jesse wasn't good with lots of attention on a good day, so right now when she was crying against her will and trying _not_ to get attention was even worse.

Aiden's expression was more shocked than before– he'd never actually seen Jesse lose her temper like this, had he?

With a mumbled, "sorry," Jesse pushed past him and moved off into the crowd, wiping at her eyes and trying to get rid of the tear tracks on her face, probably with very little success. She didn't have a mirror at hand to check. Stupid uncontrollable tears. She hadn't even _wanted_ to cry– besides the initial fearful reaction from Aiden's... more than insensitive comment, that was all she'd really felt. She hadn't even felt _sad_.

"Are you okay?"

Jesse jumped so badly she almost fell over. Twisting to see the speaker, she whispered back, "Notch _darn_ it, Lukas, please don't _do_ that! Scared the bejabbers out of me."

The blonde Ocelot gave her a weak little smile. "Haha. Sorry." It faded back to a concerned look a moment later. "Are you okay?" He paused a second after saying that, a sheepish expression coming over his face. "Uh, sorry. Dumb question."

Jesse smiled weakly back at him. "Well, physically, yes. Emotionally, not sure."

Lukas regarded her for a moment, a concerned expression making its way across his face as his left hand dug deeper into his pocket. He was about to respond– in fact, his mouth had actually opened– when a terrified squeal rang out across the area.

Jesse's head snapped around. She recognized that squeal. "Reuben?" she called out, eyes scanning the area. She didn't spot the little pig.

But she _did_ see a butcher's booth.

"Get your porkchops here!" the butcher shouted to the crowd, "fresh from the bone."

Jesse felt the blood drain from her face, and she slowly rotated to stare at Lukas, blinking a few times. "You don't think...?"

Lukas's right hand twitched up a bit, as if he wanted to set a reassuring hand on her shoulder or something. He didn't, though, which was fine with Jesse– knowing their history, and what had just happened, she would've just been a little weirded out. "I hope not. But just in case..."

Jesse gave him a nod, turned back around and broke into a jog, hands slowly gravitating up to her chest to guard her pounding heart. She had to commend herself for not doing that while she'd been yelling at Aiden about the fire. Lukas followed, although he was moving at a more normal pace.

"Nothing sticks to your ribs like a juicy pork chop!" The butcher reached under the counter– and put a little pig with a familiar mark on his side on the counter, drawing a stone axe a moment later.

There was only one pig that had that mark.

" _REUBEN!_ " Jesse shrieked, breaking into a full-out sprint for the butcher's booth.

Reuben jumped around with a terrified squeal as the butcher frowned as Jesse skidded to a halt next to the booth. "What's the big idea? I'm trying to run a business here."

"That's my pig!" Jesse exclaimed, breath catching a little in her chest shakily from the crying session. Great. Not even a full minute of against-her-will crying, and her voice was shaky.

"Oh, really?" the butcher replied, raising an unimpressed eyebrow at Jesse, "well, I found him out in the woods, so I think that makes him _my_ pig. Not the fattest pig I've ever seen... but he should cook up real nice anyway."

"Seriously, give her back her pig." Jesse started in surprise at the sound of Lukas's voice coming from behind her, glancing over her shoulder to see him frowning at the butcher. "Just because you found him in the woods doesn't make him your pig. Besides, she's already had a really bad day."

Jesse's expression turned into one of slight confusion. She wouldn't have said that she was having a _really_ bad day... there were just bad _parts_. Like losing Reuben, having Reuben catch on fire, Aiden reminding her– for the millionth time that day– that even getting in close proximity to a fire might result in a painful, blazing death... but the other parts were good, like winning the building competition and finding out that Petra considered her a friend and other bits too.

Lukas's blue eyes flicked down and met her own green ones, practically screaming a clear message.

 _Play along for now._

Jesse turned back to the butcher after a moment of hesitation and just tried to look as depressed as possible. Which, in her defense, considering she'd just been crying (against her will)... wasn't that hard.

"Please?" she asked meekly, voice cracking a little bit. "He's my friend."

The butcher's expression softened slightly at the sight of the petite girl looking honest-to-goodness like she was going to cry, and he gave an apologetic shrug. "To me, he's inventory. I... might be amenable to some kind of trade," he suggested, nicely enough considering he'd been about to _kill_ Reuben about a minute ago.

"Well... all I've got is this sword," she said softly, meekly extending the stone sword in the butcher's direction.

The butcher's expression changed to an appraising one, looking the never-used-sword up and down. "Oh... that's very nice. With this, I could cut my butchering time in half." Another moment of hesitation, and he nodded and took the sword, gently nudging Reuben towards Jesse's side of the counter and letting the smaller girl grab the pig in a tight, trembly hug. "Nice doing business with you."

Jesse walked away, hugging Reuben so tightly that you'd had to have knocked Jesse out to take Reuben away. "C'mon, Reuben. Lukas," she added, glancing over her shoulder at the blonde and walking away with the little pink pig.

Once they'd gotten a good distance away, Jesse looked down at the pink pig. "I'm so sorry, Reuben," she said, relief evident in her voice. "I shouldn't have let you run off into the woods."

Reuben just oinked softly and nudged his nose against the girl's face, showing that she was forgiven– whenever Reuben was mad at her, which wasn't often, the pig would just ignore her for a few hours on end. Never for very long, of course– the longest time he'd stayed angry at her so far was three hours. So... not long.

Jesse turned to face the blonde Ocelot next to her, a grateful expression crossing her face as she tilted her head back to make eye contact with him. "Thank you, Lukas," she told him sincerely. "I'm not sure he would've been so light on the trade if you hadn't been there."

Lukas gave her a gentle smile– one that was filled with kindness and relief and that emotion that Jesse hadn't been able to identify earlier. She still couldn't identify it. "No problem, Jesse," he replied.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright, I know I updated this story yesterday, but I got bored. So, a note that I need to let you know:**

 **From now on, if anyone SERIOUSLY (not jokingly) asks me to update Hybrid: Cinematic Mode on a story that is not Hybrid: Cinematic Mode, I am going to DELAY the update on Hybrid: Cinematic Mode and just binge-update the story that I was going to update that day (unless it's Hybrid: Cinematic Mode, in which case I will skip it and move onto the next story). I'm sorry for the people who patiently wait for updates on that story, but I'm getting ticked off by people commenting, on stories that have NOTHING to do with Hybrid: Cinematic Mode, for me to update Hybrid: Cinematic Mode.**

 **That happened yesterday. So expect a slew of updates on this story today.**

 **Anyway! Jesse isn't too happy with Aiden now. (And probably neither is Lukas)**

 **LunarTheMooncake: (laughs)**

 **homeworkoverload: Yeah, I don't. xD / Nope xD**

 **ShiningHopeBeast: D'you think? Hm. / (shrugs) / (laughs) / Hmm, do you think?**

 **TheAmberShadow: (pats) / Indeed. xD / Over twenty people. That's as exact as a number as I'm willing to give. / Ooh, really? I'll have to play it, then. xD / No, Petra's human.**

 **EllieRose27: No.**

 **NovaAurora10: Sort of.**

 **NoItsBecky: 20 characters, of course there's more cursed people than just 20 xD / Latter probably**

 **AquaK13: 1. Maybe? / 2. What, just because she has red eyes? xD / 3. Eh. / (pats)**

 **That's about it for now. I love how everyone's asking me spoiler-y questions and I'm like**

 **"nah i'll answer 'em later"**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	9. Chicken

Lukas held her eyes for a moment longer, and the moment turned a little awkward. Jesse awkwardly cleared her throat and glanced away, arms still wrapped tightly around Reuben. Lukas averted his eyes as well, glancing away before back at her, his expression more serious now. Even though his cheeks were still tinted slightly pink from the awkward moment just now. "So, uh... sorry about Aiden. He just kinda... runs his mouth sometimes. And it's not really cool of him to make fun of you for..."

Lukas inhaled, as if trying to figure out a better term for it, before letting it all out in a little sigh and waving his arm vaguely. "You know."

Jesse gave him a grateful smile– the less reminders she got about... _that_... the better. "Yeah. No. It's fine, don't worry about it, it's... not like I exactly made it obvious that that was a traumatizing event for me."

"I mean... you'd think that nearly dying is traumatic enough," Lukas muttered, making Jesse let out a brief, half-amused laugh and look down at Reuben, who was snuffling and butting his nose into her face comfortingly.

"You have a point. I'm just glad that Olivia and Axel were there to pull me out in time." A warmer smile crept over her face, even though the topic was still not exactly a... happy one. But just talking about Axel and Olivia always made her feel better. "I don't think I'd be here if they hadn't." She looked back up at Lukas just in time to see an emotion that she couldn't quite identify flit over his face.

"Is something... wrong?" she asked, a little more hesitantly.

"Huh? Oh no, I just spotted Olivia," and Lukas raised his eyes and pointed over Jesse's shoulder– which wasn't that hard, since Jesse was so dang short. Jesse twisted to see her dark-skinned friend intently watching some sort of machine that involved chickens. (What was it with her friends and chickens?)

"Oh." Somehow, Jesse didn't feel like that was it, but she decided to let it go for now. "Let's go ask her for help tracking down Ivor– the guy that cheated Petra on her deal," the petite girl quickly corrected when she saw Lukas's brow start to crease in confusion.

His expression cleared up. "Ah, okay. Sounds good to me."

With that, the two of them jogged over, Jesse still hugging Reuben tightly as she came to a stop just behind Olivia. Extricating one arm from her death hug on Reuben, she reached up and tapped Olivia on the shoulder, making the beanie-wearing girl turn around to face her immediately. "You know the thing I had to go do with Petra?"

Olivia nodded. Jesse continued, "Well, long story short, we met up with this kinda creepy guy with a beard, he cheated Petra on a deal, and now we're trying to track him down. You in?"

"Oh, I'm in alright," Olivia agreed instantly. She glanced over at Lukas, before back at Jesse, her expression more neutral now. To Jesse's surprise, though, it was a little more mild than it was when the redstone-engineer-in-training was talking about any member of the Ocelots. "Is Lukas helping as well?"

"You can just ask me, you know," Lukas spoke up, a little sheepishly when both girls turned to look at him. "Yeah, I'm... doing my best to help."

"Yeah, he helped me get Reuben back." It dawned on Jesse that Reuben was probably just putting up with Jesse squeezing the life out of him, and she quickly leaned down and set the little pink pig on the ground. He let out a satisfied oink at that, so apparently her realization was right on the money.

Olivia glanced up at Lukas, her expression extremely hard to read. Jesse was jealous of Olivia's deadpan sometimes– the curly-haired girl could say "There's a man-eating wolf who has developed a weird obsession with candy" without even batting an eye. "I see. Well, then, welcome to the team Lukas." This was followed by the tiniest quirk of Olivia's lips.

Lukas rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, giving Olivia a slightly quizzical smile. "Thanks, I... think."

Jesse gave Olivia a surreptitious glance, the curly-haired girl meeting her eyes a moment later. The two of them proceeded to have a very quick mental conversation. The two girls had been friends for so long that they could read each other's facial expressions like a book.

 _Do you feel anything weird about Lukas?_

 _Not really. Why?_

 _Never mind then, it's probably just me._

A moment later, Petra jogged up to them with Axel hot on her heels. "Any sign of him?" she asked, before double-taking and frowning at Jesse for a moment. "Jesse, you okay? You look like you've been crying."

"Aiden," Olivia, Axel, and Lukas chorused in complete unison.

Jesse felt her cheeks color. Apparently she'd been loud enough that even Olivia had heard her from all the way over here.

"Ah. Say no more," Petra said, putting her hand up to stall any further explanation. Mainly because they didn't really need any more after that point.

To answer Petra's question, Jesse shook her head. "No, I didn't spot him. I got slightly sidetracked when I spotted–"

A rustle of movement caught her eyes in her peripheral vision, and her head snapped to the left and up, spotting a man with a pale face, black hair and a beard, and robes that looked very similar to what she'd been able to see of Ivor's. "Wait, there he is!"

Everyone's head rotated to see Ivor checking over his shoulder warily before breaking into a run for the keynote building.

"Looks like he's heading towards the Hall," Lukas murmured thoughtfully, his right hand reaching up and touching his bottom lip thoughtfully.

Petra made a low growling noise deep in her throat that made all of them look at her. Sure, Petra got angry after being cheated, but none of them had ever seen her _this_ angry before. Ivor was in trouble. "We've gotta follow him," she almost hissed angrily.

"We're gonna have to get past that usher to follow him, though," Olivia pointed out.

"Well then, let's go!" Petra snapped, and she marched over to the usher. The other four exchanged confused looks, shrugged, and then walked after her over to the usher, who was looking quizzically at the very mismatched group.

Jesse gave a little wave. "Um, hi. What would it take... to get us inside tonight?"

"... Uh... tickets." The usher laughed, as if he'd just made an amazing joke.

He hadn't, of course.

"That was a good one, you should laugh."

Lukas looked as if he wanted to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Well... okay, so here's the thing," Jesse began, aware that now everyone's eyes were on her, "we _had_ tickets, but then we misplaced them or something and... I think we lost them."

The usher grimaced sympathetically. "Oh man, I hate it when that happens."

"Right?!" Jesse agreed, nodding at him, "I feel like such an idiot."

He paused, before giving them an apologetic shrug. "I'm sorry, dudes, but... no tickets, no show."

Jesse would've continued trying to convince him, except right then a small white chicken fluttered by, and he recoiled with a muffled scream. "CHICKEN!" he whisper-screamed, enough for Jesse to back up and almost trip backwards down the steps, "Chicken– Chicken– _chickeeeen!_ "

A moment later, the chicken clucked and walked away. The usher, who had flung his arms up over his head to protect himself, now looked around nervously. "It's gone, you're totally fine, you're a totally cool dude."

Jesse retreated to the bottom of the steps and lowered her voice to a whisper. "We've gotta do something," she spoke, in the lowest voice she could to avoid the usher hearing.

"Like what? The show has been sold out for ages," Olivia whispered back.

"We could bust right through," Axel suggested, also in a whisper, "I just need a little wind-up room."

There was a long pause as everyone considered the ways that could go wrong, in which Jesse started looking around for some other method of getting past the usher... spotting the chickens racing around in the chicken machine that Olivia had been looking at earlier.

"Any other bright ideas?" Petra asked at last, also keeping her voice low.

"We need a distraction," Jesse said softly, slowly raising one hand and pointing at the machine.

Petra slowly started smiling. "A bunch of _chickens_ running around might be a distraction."

"And the usher is afraid of chickens," Lukas nodded, also speaking in a low whisper.

Jesse slowly started smiling a little. "What would you guys say... if I told you I want to break this guy's chicken machine to create the mother of all distractions?"

Olivia straightened up, narrowing her eyes at the chicken machine for a full minute, before pointing at a single pane of glass. "You're going to have to break _that_ pane of glass. How are you going to reach it?"

"Well, if we had a rock... we could just try throwing a rock at the glass?" Lukas suggested softly.

"Mmm, no, the throwing trajectory is too up-and-down– once it reached it's peak, the rock wouldn't have enough force to break through the glass," Olivia pointed out, reaching over and pointing out what she meant.

Lukas narrowed his eyes at the glass, before his expression cleared. "Oh. Yeah, I see."

Petra gently clapped Lukas on the back, her hand lingering on his back for a second longer than was actually necessary. The movement was so quick and smooth, though, that Jesse was already doubting if it had happened, and it had _just_ happened. "Well, it was a good idea. Let's split up and look around– there _has_ to be something we can do."

With that, everyone moved apart to have a look. Jesse wandered the area, looking around and frowning a little. Reuben snuffled and trotted after Jesse, sticking close to her after the whole event with the butcher– they did _not_ need a repeat. After a few seconds, Jesse spotted a guy jumping into the air using a slime block as a trampoline.

"Hmm... I bet we could reach the glass with a slime block," Jesse mumbled, reaching up to her mouth and biting her thumbnail thoughtfully as she glanced back at the chicken machine, before back at the slime block. Then at the slime ball booth right next to it.

Carefully, Jesse moved closer to the booth. It might be time to get some slime.

(Hey, that rhymed.)

* * *

Olivia glanced over when Lukas moved towards her, his eyes fixated on the ground with his hands shoved deep inside his pockets. "Have you told her yet?" she asked, keeping her voice low in case Jesse moved back over to her.

The blonde shook his head in a dejected way. No.

Petra made a grunting sound as she approached. "Dude, it's not that hard. Just tell her." With that, she clapped the blonde on the back, hard enough to make him wince a little.

"She... she doesn't realize." The comment was soft enough that Petra had to lean in to catch it.

"Of course she doesn't realize, Lukas, she's the most oblivious person of all time." Petra paused, before shooting Olivia a sheepish grin. "I mean that in a good way. She's innocent and all that, but she doesn't pick up on a lot of things."

"No, no, you're right about that," Olivia replied with a grin. "I can't tell you the amount of times some guys used an inappropriate pick-up line on her and she just didn't get it."

Lukas gave a tight smile at that.

"But yeah. Plus, it's not exactly like she knew what was going on at the time when... you know." Olivia gestured vaguely. Lukas winced and nodded a little at that.

Petra pursed her lips, before frowning a little. "Okay, wait, hang on, I'm getting the feeling that we're all having two different conversations. What exactly are we talking about again?"

Lukas gave an amused shake of the head, lips quirking up slightly. "Never mind. Thanks for trying to help anyway."

"No problem. I'll keep playing wingman." Petra winked at Lukas jokingly and gave him finger guns before moving away to check on Axel– the guy had the attention span of a lightning bolt.

Lukas's cheeks reddened as Olivia turned to give Lukas a raised eyebrow. "What was... you know what, I'm not going to ask. If you want, Axel and I can just tell Jesse...?"

Lukas paused, lips tightening into a thin line as he considered it.

Then he shook his head again.

 _No_.

* * *

"You alright, by the way?"

Jesse blinked at the lady at the booth, who was leaning on her elbows and regarding Jesse with some concern. "Huh...? Yeah, I'm fine, why'd you...?"

"Well, I mean, you were crying and yelling at some guy about nearly dying earlier."

Jesse's cheeks now turned red– either this lady had been nearby when she'd had her little yelling session with Aiden, or she'd been _much_ louder than she'd realized. "Oh– that. Um, yeah, I'm fine now." To prove her point, she smiled perkily at the woman. Or, well, as perkily as she could manage without looking like she was faking. Badly, at that.

The woman gave Jesse a dubious look. "Well... if you're sure."

"Mmhm. Thanks for asking though. Um, one slime block, please."

The woman held up a slime ball with a slightly apologetic shake of the head. "We don't give out slime blocks here. Just slime balls. But we've got a limited supply today, and we're only giving out two per customer. You _could_ craft your own slime block if you had nine slime balls..."

"A round of slime balls," and Jesse twisted to see the other four walking towards the booth, Axel smiling pleasantly at the woman, "for everyone please."

The woman nodded back and doled out a serving of two slime balls per person. In the end, the entire group ended up with ten slime balls, which all went to Jesse. Jesse grinned and held up one of her slime balls. "Time to make a slime block." She trotted over to a nearby crafting table and began placing down every single slime. A slime in every slot, and in every slot a slime.

There was a short, awkward pause behind her, before Lukas spoke up. "So... you guys been building together long? You've got good chemistry."

"You jealous?" That was Axel. Unlike Olivia, who'd sounded _slightly_ welcoming earlier, there was no hint of even being remotely polite in the burly boy's voice.

"I'm just saying. I think it's cool you have a team that works so well together. Especially one that trusts each other with their lives."

Jesse actually paused in her crafting upon hearing that. That last comment was... a little odd.

"You're totally jealous."

Jesse placed down the last slime ball, and they shivered together into a glowing clump. Moments later, a puff of smoke burst off, and a large block of slime the size of a stool replaced the nine slime balls. "Ta-da!" she announced cheerfully, "one slime block." She paused, considering what she'd just made. "... gross."

"I'll take that," Olivia remarked, reaching over and taking the slime block off of the crafting table– actually, having to essentially yank it off the crafting table, leaving a slimy trail behind, and walking over to the area with the chicken machine. Narrowing her eyes, the curly-haired girl considered the distance and trajectories and all that other math stuff (Jesse didn't like math), before finally leaning down and placing the slime block with a satisfying squish. "Riiiight there."

"It's all you, Jesse," Axel said, giving his friend a friendly smile.

"Don't worry, we're here in case you trip," Lukas added, giving Jesse a warm grin.

Jesse blinked in surprise– she hadn't been expecting him to care that much, honestly– before returning the smile. "Heh... thanks, Lukas." Turning to Axel, she gestured at the tent above the crafting table she'd just been working at. "Could you give me a boost?"

Axel obediently bent forwards and allowed Jesse to clamber onto his back, working her way to the roof of the tent. Once there, she carefully made her way to the edge of the tent. She was fairly sure that if she dropped her heart from here, it would shatter.

So let's not do that.

Backing away three steps, Jesse inhaled deeply, steeling herself–

And then raced forward, leaping just as she reached the end of the tent roof. She narrowed her eyes, staring at the slime as it grew closer, closer–!

Her feet slammed solidly into it, knees bending to absorb the small amount of shock from the landing, before launching her back up into the air towards the pane of glass. Jesse drew her fist back, steeling herself. Wait for it, wait for it...!

Now!

Her fist slammed solidly into the glass, smashing through it as if it were paper. Chickens immediately began spraying out of the machine at an... actually somewhat alarming rate. Startled clucking and white feathers rained everywhere as one guy, who had presumably been the creator of the machine, raced towards the machine. "My poultry! My precious poultry!" he cried out, alarmed.

Jesse made a mental note to apologize to him later.

A pair of arms caught her, keeping her from making a very painful greeting with the ground, and she looked up to see Lukas stumbling a little with an alarmed look on his face, having caught her from the fall. "Oh. Thanks, Lukas," she thanked him, rather breathlessly.

"No–" Lukas ducked, setting her on the ground as a chicken went flying over his head. "No problem."

Jesse clambered back to her feet and glanced around, the rest of the group racing up to her. "Now's our chance!" Petra exclaimed, pointing at where the usher was currently being attacked by a bunch of chickens. (Well, 'attacked'... more like they were hopping all over him.)

Jesse nodded at her and started running up the steps, racing through the gate and for the keynote.

Time to track Ivor down.

* * *

 **A/N: Update!**

 **No, there is no Lukesse in this story.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **LunarTheMooncake: (pats)**

 **That's it xD**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

 **EDITED: JANUARY 30, 2018. Corrected a small mistake where Jesse was supposed to ask for a slime block, not a slime ball.**


	10. Silent Conversation

"Where'd he go?" Petra asked, looking around the keynote. Just a minute ago, they'd dramatically burst in (okay, they'd just run in, but a few people had actually turned to look at them when they had), and were now scanning the pre-show crowd for Ivor. Not surprisingly, they didn't spot him.

Jesse scanned the room again, this time spotting a door that was slightly ajar and swaying back and forth slightly. "Well, that door is ominously open by a small amount. He might've popped in there."

With anyone else, that would've sounded sarcastic. With Jesse, it sounded like she was making a helpful suggestion.

Everyone decided to take that suggestion and rushed towards the door, but Lukas suddenly frowned and came to a stop before any of them could just charge through the door. "What do we do once we catch him?" he asked, curiously.

Everyone came to a halt at that, giving each other slightly thoughtful looks. Just from the expressions on their face, Jesse was willing to bet that none of them– even Petra– had thought that far ahead.

When nobody spoke, Lukas continued, a bit more meekly, "There are a million ways to play this. But considering this isn't my fight... I'll follow your lead."

Absentmindedly, Jesse's hand travelled up to where her glass heart was hidden, thudding away rhythmically and providing a perfect beat for thought. "We ask politely for what's ours," she said, simply, with a small smile.

"And if he doesn't give it, we beat the tar out of him," Petra added, glowering at a random wood block making up the wall as if it was singlehandedly the thing at fault for making Ivor cheat her on the deal.

Everyone looked at Petra.

The redhead blinked a bit at them, the fury dancing in her eyes now replaced by confusion. "What?" she asked, simply.

"... well, anyway, sounds like a good idea," Lukas said, deciding to just skip over that odd little moment, "short, sweet, and to the point."

Axel shot Lukas a look.

Jesse just gave Lukas a grin, and she carefully eased the door open to avoid any earth-shattering squeaks. The moment it was wide enough, the five of them– six including Reuben– made their way down the stairs, the light immediately fading out as they entered the staircase. Jesse was almost tempted to pull her heart out to use as a light source.

Before she knew it, she'd reached the bottom of her staircase, she carefully poked her head out from behind the wall blocking her view of the rest of the basement– and immediately felt her eyes widened.

She felt the others doing the same behind her. Judging by the soft whistle Axel gave, the surprised inhalation of breath– not quite a gasp– from Olivia, the humming noise Lukas made, Petra's thoughtful " _huh_ ", and Reuben's surprised oink, they were having the same reaction.

They were currently staring at a basement filled with bookshelves, towering up an impressive amount and strung with dusty cobwebs. Potion bottles and glowstone lamps sporadically placed through the room provided soft illumination, and the occasional torch on the wall made the atmosphere even more spooky than it already was.

"What is all this?" Olivia asked, in a hushed voice, as if afraid something in the room was going to come alive and swallow them whole if they woke it up by being too loud.

Jesse considered the room for a moment longer. "Looks like a witch's house," she said softly. "Or an alchemist's library." She glanced up at the ceiling. "Wonder how nobody here's noticed it yet."

"I'll bet you _anything_ the skull's in here," Petra muttered angrily, stepping into the basement a little more and giving it a little look. Part of Jesse was glad that they could at least get Petra's skull back, and another part of Jesse was glad that Ivor wasn't here right now– with how intensely Petra was glaring at some of his stuff, she was a little worried that he might end up getting, well, beaten up.

"And if we find anything else cool to steal along the way, so be it, right?" Axel asked casually, strolling deeper into the library and taking a look at a glimmering potion on the nearest shelf.

Petra's dark expression faded, and she gave the burly boy an admonishing look. "Axel, that's not what we're here to do."

"I did say to ask _politely_ , Axel," Jesse pointed out. Of course, Axel being Axel, he was quick to counter.

"Well if he's not _here_ , we can't ask," he countered, "so I say we take."

Petra shook her head, crossing her arms. "I want to beat the tar out of him, but I don't want to stoop to his level."

"Uh..." Lukas was glancing between Axel and Petra with wide eyes, looking more than a little nervous. Between Axel's being so large, and the strange intensity of Petra wanting revenge on people, he looked a bit worried. To be honest, so did Olivia. And to be VERY honest, Jesse was feeling a bit nervous too.

"Let's just focus on getting the skull and getting the heck out of here– we don't want to be stuck down here when the guy comes back," Jesse spoke up, mostly directing the comment at Axel.

Axel mock-scowled at that. "Nobody ever lets me have any fun."

"We let you hang out with us, don't we?" Jesse countered quickly, grinning. The grin faded a moment later as she glanced around the room. "The faster we find what we're looking for, the faster we can get the _heck_ out of here."

The entire group nodded and quickly split up. Reuben snuffled and nudged Jesse's calf with his leg, in a comforting way. Jesse gave a little sigh and allowed her hand to stray back to her heart. "Yeah, I know," she murmured, keeping her voice low so that none of the others could catch it– the acoustics in the basement were pretty impressive. "This shouldn't be that bad, though. Just in, grab the skull, and out. Easy."

Reuben just snorted at that.

Jesse decided not to argue with the pig and moved off into the bookshelves, taking a closer look at one of the shelves– and blinking. One section of the books was _completely_ crammed with fairytale books. Small, thin volumes that were undoubtedly filled with the more obscure ones, a huge, fat volume that Jesse was willing to be contained every single fairytale ever written, and one that was about the size of her hand but the thickness of a Harry Potter book. Even the public library didn't have all these books.

"Huh. Guess he really likes fairytales, then," Jesse murmured. Even though the Fairytale Curse _was_ currently raging in effect, most of the fairytales were still well-written. And confession... when Jesse wasn't just poring over the Tin Soldier for the billionth time, desperately hoping that she'd missed _one_ stray detail, she was reading the stories. They _were_ fun to read.

Out of curiosity, Jesse reached up and grabbed the smallest-sized book, the one that was the size of her palm. She flipped to the first page, spotting the Table of Contents immediately. There was Cinderella, the Three Billy Goats Gruff, the Tin Soldier (her heartbeat sped up against her chest at that), Snow White, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, the Snow Queen...

Shrugging, Jesse carefully put the book in her inventory. Ivor had an entire section of shelf filled with fairytale books. He wouldn't miss one that was a little bigger than her hand.

Moving on, she spotted Petra rifling through a nearby chest. She approached the redhead, who stood up looking at something appreciatively. "Oh, hello," she murmured to herself.

And then she lashed out with a golden sword, glinting in the light.

Jesse danced backwards a few steps, being careful to avoid the gleaming blade. Petra, catching the movement in her peripheral vision, turned to the shorter girl. "Too heavy," she said, a little distastefully, "and too soft."

Jesse gave the gold sword a small smile. "But _super_ flashy."

"Yeah, I don't think this guy does much fighting." Petra paused, a darker expression on her face, before glancing up at Jesse thoughtfully. "You've still got that one stone sword, right?"

The black-haired girl gave her head an apologetic shake. "No, I had to give it to some butcher to save Reuben's life."

"Jeez..." Petra winced as she looked down at the small pink pig. "Oh well. Guess it was for a good cause. Here," and she switched her grip on the sword that she was holding it, hilt-up. Jesse looked at the sword, before hesitantly taking it from Petra. She immediately could see what Petra meant– the blade was definitely heavier than the stone sword.

But still way more manageable than those giant swords that people tried to sell her.

"Thanks. Again," Jesse said, putting the sword away obediently.

"You're welcome." A small quirk of Petra's lips into a small smile. "Don't lose that one."

Jesse returned the smile and walked into the next area, where Axel was staring around at the potions. Jesse trotted over to her friend. "Find anything?" she asked, keeping her voice low.

"I wanna steal that," Axel reached up and pointed at a potion. "And that." Another potion. He then glanced over at a mushroom in a pot. "I just want to _touch_ that."

Repressing a grin at his antics, Jesse turned around– and almost bumped into a small pedestal, a potion resting on it. Unlike the other potions, though, this one's glow was more like a miasma, of gold and purple and gleaming silver. Not to mention, the glass was tinted differently. "Whoa, check it out," she whispered, blinking at it.

Axel let out a little gasp of amazement as he walked up to it. "You're not going to believe me, but I _swear_ I had a dream about this." His eyes switched to the potion, shining greedily. Or maybe that was just the potion. "Okay, potion. I know this is a big step, but... I would be _honored_ if you'd come home with me."

Jesse gave Axel a weird smile, nervously laughing a bit at the almost hypnotized voice he was using. "C'mon, Axel. Make yourself helpful and go find that skull."

"I am..."

And then he reached out and grabbed the potion anyway, sticking it in his pocket.

"... uh, no, you just did the literal opposite of what I just asked you to do. Besides," Jesse gestured at the now-empty space, "there's no way he's not going to notice that his fancy potion is missing."

"A good thief always covers his tracks," Axel replied, glancing around. He proceeded to grab a nearby potion bottle and set it in the space where the fancy one had been. Actually, if you didn't know what was there before– or if you didn't stop and stare– you wouldn't even notice the difference. "Fixed it!" he said, in a loud stage whisper, and moved off to go steal something else.

"Oh yeah, the perfect crime," Jesse mumbled, slightly sarcastically.

Moving on from that, Jesse walked over to where Olivia was carefully examining one of the larger bookshelves. "Find anything?" she repeated to Olivia, since her first attempt with Axel had ended... in him stealing something.

"Well, the guy's not a slouch when it comes to enchanting," Olivia replied, glancing over her shoulder, "this is some pretty advanced stuff." The dark-skinned girl looked over at Lukas, who was also nearby. "What about you, Lukas? Find anything?"

Lukas's shoulders tensed, and Jesse was pretty sure that if he'd been any different, he would've actively jumped a little in surprise as he turned to face them. "Oh. Uh..." he glanced over his shoulders at the shelves. "You guys want an instruction manual on 'How to Build a Creepy Villain Lair with Everyday Objects'?"

Jesse couldn't resist letting out a giggle at that, and even Olivia had to repress a snort. "Uh, no thanks."

Lukas gave Jesse a sheepish grin, one hand still in his left pocket, before Jesse glanced around. "I'm gonna look around and see if I can spot anything else."

"Look away," Olivia said, casually.

Jesse nodded and moved away, examining the shelves more carefully. Besides the one shelf filled with fairytale books, none of the titles actually rang a bell with her, but she still kept searching anyways.

* * *

The moment Jesse turned away to look at the books, Olivia pointed at Jesse and gave Lukas a pointed look. Her meaning was abundantly clear– _just tell her!_

Lukas paused, glancing over at Jesse as she squinted at the books, before giving his head a shake. _Can't._

 _Dude, stop being a chicken._ This was from Axel, who'd attracted his attention by flailing his arms (don't worry, he'd moved out of the way out of the potions, he wasn't in danger of knocking anything over) and was now crossing his arms and squinting at Lukas, before gesturing at Jesse. _It's literally not that hard to tell her_.

 _But..._ Lukas's hesitant glance was enough to point that out– that he was hesitating to tell her.

 _What are you guys talking about?_ Petra had entered the silent conversation, poking her head in and making confused gestures.

 _Lukas not telling Jesse about... y'know._ Olivia shot Lukas a pointed look again. _Last year._

Petra's eyes widened a little, and her mouth moved into a little 'oh'. _Is that what you were talking about earlier, too?_

Olivia nodded at Petra.

Axel crossed his arms. _It's seriously not that hard. Just tell her._

 _But it's not that easy!_ Lukas threw his hands up in the air and shook his head furiously.

Petra rolled her eyes. _Lukas, seriously. We're all here to back you up._ She spread her arms. _And it's not that hard anyways._ _What's the problem?_

 _She thinks they_ _–_ Lukas abruptly cut off the frantic motioning of his arms and shoved his hands deep into his pockets as Jesse turned back around, making a face and shaking her head a little.

"There are way too many titles that make no sense on this shelf."

"Really? Like what?" Lukas asked, quickly turning to face Jesse and ignoring the flat stares the others were giving him.

Jesse dramatically gave her head a little shake and rested the back of her hand on her head. "It's too scarring. I can't tell you," she declared. "The experience has scarred me for life."

Lukas smothered a grin. "Oh no, my dear lady, I shall avenge thee," he joked back, making Jesse break out of her dramatic little scene into a giggling fit.

"Sure. While you do that, I'm going to go see if Petra's Wither Skull's somewhere in this basement– I highly doubt he wants to carry it around all day. Imagine if the keynote security caught him with it."

"Ooh, good point..." Olivia thumbed her lip, glancing back at the shelf. "That said, he might've hidden it behind something. Who just leaves Wither Skulls in a chest where anyone can come stomping in and find it?"

"Oh, that's a good point. Alright, everyone, start looking for hidden triggers, levers, tripwires, _anything_ ," Jesse ordered (politely), moving off into the room again.

Lukas was about to follow her lead when he spotted Petra giving him an encouraging look. When he just stared at her in confusion, she gave a little roll of her eyes and gestured at Jesse, who thankfully wasn't paying Petra much attention. _C'mon. You can do it._

 _We're not still talking about... last year, right?_

Petra shook her head, the encouraging look still on her face. _You know what I'm talking about. She's right there._

He shook his head back. _Not right now. Later._

The redhead gave the blonde a flat look, before shrugging. _Suit yourself._

Lukas gave her a weak smile and began to move off– before spotting a movement and glancing back over at Petra. She was clenching her fist in a small, restrained cheering motion. _Rootin' for ya._

He gave her a slightly cheered-up thumbs up and moved off.

He didn't notice the encouraging grin fade into an almost sad smile.

* * *

Jesse reached over the shelf and took ahold of a lever that had been blocked from view before by the potion that Axel had used to replace the fancy one. Pulling it down with a solid clunking noise, the lever rattled a bit in her grip, implying that it had been used many times before.

A grinding sound made itself more obvious, and Olivia stepped back from the huge bookcase she'd been scrutinizing with a startled expression on her face, the bookcase sliding into the floor to reveal gray-brown blocks with what looked like _faces_ in it, on the sides and below a weird block with glowing colors emitting from a small 'window' in the center. A double chest sat at its feet.

Jesse frowned. "What the heck _is_ this stuff?"

"Soul Sand," Petra murmured, frowning at the blocks around the machine. "That stuff's _everywhere_ in the Nether."

"What about the block in the middle?" Jesse asked, pointing at said block.

Petra frowned, narrowing her eyes at it. "Never seen one of _those_ before..."

Olivia stepped closer to it, eyes glinting in the machine's light. She hesitantly reached up, as if to touch it. "It looks like a machine of some sort... maybe if I just... take a closer look..." Her hand came to a stop inches from the block, hovering so close that if she leaned forward the _slightest_ amount she would touch it. "Do you feel that?" she asked, looking a little bewildered. "It's almost... pulsing."

"Don't touch that, Olivia!" Jesse gasped, stepping forward and tugging her friend backwards a step. Her glass heart had abruptly gone into overdrive, now hammering away inside her chest.

Olivia twisted to get a better look at Jesse, looking startled by the fear in her friend's voice. "I was just curious."

"Don't forget what we're here for," Jesse replied shakily, "find that skull."

Olivia nodded and backed away, allowing Jesse to approach the chest at the structure's feet. Carefully, Jesse reached down and pulled it open– before her eyes widened in surprise. "Soo... good news, weird news."

The others crowded around the chest as well, following her lead and peering into the chest. "I found the skull, but..."

Petra's expression darkened. "What the hell?" she muttered. "Why'd I risk my neck for that skull if he's got two of them already? He was in such a hurry to get it, too."

Lukas frowned, reaching up and tapping his bottom lip as he stared at the structure, Petra continuing uncertainly, "there's gotta be something bigger going on here. Something we just don't see."

"I think I know what's going on here," the blonde spoke suddenly, making them all look at him, and for once Jesse wasn't noticing that there was the _smallest_ thing off with him, because he'd suddenly turned about six shades paler. Lukas raised his arm shakily and pointed at the structure, indicating the Soul Sand. "Soul Sand, plus three Wither Skulls..."

Jesse frowned. Lukas usually was so put-together. A little jokey and playful sometimes, sometimes serious, sometimes annoyed, but always very calm regardless.

But now he looked like he wanted to run and hide under his bed.

"That's the recipe for a Wither."

* * *

 **A/N: I shall be binge-updating until we're past what I consider the boring part. (I.E. up until after the Wither is created, depending on how long chapters are.)**

 **Hmm, looks like the others know something Jesse doesn't.**

 **And looks like Petra and Lukas know something ELSE. xD**

 **Basically, Jesse is out of the loop of everything right now xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **ItzJaiden: Once I updated the old version of Hybrid 10 times in a single day, so it's not that impressive. xD**

 **Emily The Avenger: I'm glad you think so xD**

 **LunarTheMooncake: Very incorrect, sadly xD / (shrugs) / Ah. (pats)**

 **NoItsBecky: I said over 20. So more than 20. (Not every character.) / (shrugs) / Reverse Petra and Olivia and you've got that right.**

 **Guest: Ahhh, so it is. Thanks for pointing that out xD**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	11. Twist

Petra tensed behind Jesse, eyes widening. "But... a Wither... that's–"

"One of the _worst_ monsters there is," Lukas finished for the redhead, his face still paler than Jesse had ever seen it. Which wasn't saying much, because she hadn't seen much of Lukas before.

Jesse gulped, making an audible little sound as she lowered her gaze to the chest with the three skulls inside. Her glass heart was now hammering away so hard that Jesse was honestly concerned that it was going to break. "We came down here to find Petra's skull," she said, slightly shakily, staring down into the chest. "Well, we found it."

Petra frowned at the skull. "Maybe we should just– grab it, and get out of here. While we still can."

Even as she spoke, the sound of shoes clicking quietly on stone travelled across the room, and they all whipped around to face the stairs. If Jesse's heart had been hammering before, it was now going into overdrive, thudding away against her chest with the force and speed of a jackhammer. It was a wonder that it wasn't audible to everyone.

"Uh– _guys?_ " Lukas squeaked, eyes the size of dinner plates.

There was no time to grab the Wither Skull back out; there was no time to do anything.

"Scatter!" Petra hissed, and they all immediately split up.

Reuben hit the lever to put the bookshelf back up, and Jesse raced towards a small niche in between some bookshelves. Lunging over it, she immediately huddled down, barely daring to breathe as she kept only her eyes above the shelf, pressing her shoulder into the shelf so hard that the shelf was going to leave permanent lines. For once, she was glad that she was small.

"DON'T YOU RECOGNIZE ME?!" Ivor shouted, and for a single, chilling moment, Jesse was sure that he'd spotted one of them somehow.

Until he continued, "Or... wait... surprised to _see me?!_ No, that's no good... thought you were rid of me, didn't you?" He paused thoughtfully, before giving a satisfied hum. "That's better."

Ivor walked right past Jesse, who was frozen perfectly still as she watched him move by and praying to Notch or whatever magical entity existed to not notice her, don't notice her, _don't find her friends_ –

"Hey!"

Jesse's eyes widened, and she glanced up to see Ivor whirling around on his heel in shock at the sound of Petra's voice. _What was she doing?!_ She'd been the one to tell them to scatter, why was she suddenly just popping out randomly!?

"Petra–?"

Seeing as there wasn't really any point to hiding now that Petra had revealed herself– _for some reason that Jesse didn't get_ – Jesse stood up. Nearby, Lukas emerged from a chest, wincing and rubbing his head from where he must've banged it , Olivia stood up from behind a shelf and stepped over it, Axel stepped out from between a nearby bookshelf and the wall, and Reuben hopped down from a nearby potion shelf.

(Axel reached out and caught the little pig before he could suffer any damage.)

Ivor looked startled for a moment, looking between all the teenagers from where he was surrounded. "What are you doing here–?! What did you see–?!"

He cut himself off abruptly, taking a deep, calming breath, before shooting Jesse and Petra an acidic glare that was a huge deviation from the startled man just now. " _You_ two? Did you _follow_ me here?"

Petra stormed forward, Ivor backing away a step– before his face changed slightly. Before Jesse could identify the emotion change, Petra was up in Ivor's face and jabbing her finger into his chest. " _You_ thought you could just screw me– _us_ over," she corrected, so quickly that Jesse almost didn't notice it, "and just get away with it, didn't you?!"

Ivor backed away a step, but Petra paced forward, glaring at Ivor so dangerously that Jesse was getting chills up her back, and the glare wasn't even directed at her. "We're here to prove you wrong." Jesse had never see the redhead glare at _anyone_ so angrily, and that included that one dude who'd once chucked a tomato at her.

The older man scowled at Petra and pushed her away a bit, backing away a little more– he probably didn't like people getting in his personal space. It was pretty dim in here, although significantly better than the alleyway.

Jesse vaguely noticed that his eyes weren't black, like she'd thought– they were a very dark blue.

"What are you going to do about it? I have what you want, and you have _exactly_ what you earned." Ivor's voice was so even and calm that it was actually surprising– Jesse wasn't sure how he was staying so calm while Petra was glaring at him so furiously.

"Like _hell_ you did!" Petra snarled, so viciously that Ivor actually flinched in surprise. "I got you a _Wither Skull_. Hell, I should've been asking for _more_ than a diamond!"

"Sheesh, she's mad," Lukas mumbled, so quietly that it was almost inaudible.

Jesse narrowed her eyes and walked towards Ivor, lowering her voice and trying to make it sound as sinister and serious as she could. Which... didn't really work, knowing Jesse's personality. "We know what you're up to," she said, barely able to contain the tremor in her voice to a steady level. "Soul sand, and three Wither Skulls... you're building a Wither!"

Ivor looked a bit surprised at this– just for a moment– before his expression went back to an impassive mask. "Huh. Smarter than you look."

Petra growled and stepped in front of Jesse. " _You_ don't get to talk to her like that," she practically snarled, protectively.

"Nobody talks to my friends like that," Axel agreed, stalking towards Ivor. Once again, Jesse had to appreciate just how tall Axel was– he fairly towered over Ivor. And between the angry expression on Axel's face, and the way Petra was glaring at Ivor as if she'd like to break his nose, that forget a broken nose, Jesse was getting a little nervous that Ivor was going to end up with a broken _neck_. "And I mean _nobody_. Now shut your mouth– or _else_."

Ivor let out an irritated huff. "Enough– you've wasted too much of my time already!" And with that, he turned on his heel and ducked past Lukas, who looked too startled to stop him. Hastily, the group raced after him, but he turned a corner and when they managed to skid around the corner as well, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Where'd he go?" Petra growled, looking around with a frown.

Jesse looked around rapidly as well– before gasping in surprise and warning.

Everyone whipped around to see what she was looking at– and froze at the sight of Ivor holding a pumpkin over a T composed of iron blocks. "If you won't leave of your own volition," he sneered, "I'll happily remove you myself!"

And he slammed the pumpkin down on top of the iron T.

The T of iron blocks began to shiver together dangerously, Ivor stepping in front of the statue. With a sudden blast of smoke, the statue condensed into a huge, red-eyed iron golem. Ivor gave the group of teenagers a cold look. "Show our friends the _door_ , will you?" and he gave them a nasty grin.

"RUN!" Jesse yelled, which she probably didn't need to do, but her voice rose into a frightened squeak at the end and she just needed something– _anything_ to do, anything to make sure that everyone was okay.

The iron golem swung its arm, everyone ducking to avoid getting hit right in the face.

Once, Jesse had been in a village at night and an unfortunate zombie had wandered into the village. The local iron golem had lumbered towards it slowly, making Jesse wonder how effective it could really be, being that slow– and then it had swung and sent the zombie's head flying like a golf ball, the body disentegrating into a column of smoke right where it stood while the head slowly disappeared in a puff of smoke nearly fifty feet away.

She would not like her head to be turned into a golf ball as well.

With a shriek, Jesse dove out of the way of a heavy hit from the iron golem, landing on the floor.

Scrambling back to her feet, Jesse ducked under another swipe from the iron golem. Petra and Olivia were already racing up the steps, and Jesse's heart was pounding away so hard that if it went any harder it was definitely going to crack. Lukas was scrambling after them, trying to get back to his feet from where he was currently on the floor– he must've dived out of the way of a hit as well. Axel had scooped up Reuben and was already racing up the stairs–

Something clipped Jesse's back as she ran forward, and the short girl let out a yelp of pain and surprise as she fell forward, a deep, throbbing pain spreading through her back and making her aware that it was going to bruise. Twisting around, the iron golem towered over her, glaring down at her threateningly... it raised its arms above its head, preparing to bring them down on Jesse–

"Stop."

The iron golem froze mid-movement, Jesse frozen in fear with her heart pounding away so hard that it _had_ to be breaking, it _had_ to be cracking because it was going at the force of a jackhammer.

Ivor was still standing in his little niche where the iron golem had been before, shrouded in shadow as he regarded Jesse. He met her eyes and cocked his brow, as if daring her to question what he was doing. His expression was completely blank otherwise.

Jesse remained frozen for a moment, before slowly allowing herself to clamber to her feet, her body trembling so badly that she vaguely wondered for a moment if she was on 'vibrate'. Her head was swimming. Why was he allowing her to escape? What did he stand to gain from that?

Slowly, she backed away a step. The iron golem remained frozen in place, simply staring at her with those dead red eyes. (Dead red... that rhymed.)

Ivor inclined his head slightly, dark blue eyes glinting.

Back away another step. Jesse was maintaining eye contact with Ivor, because– okay, this sounded a little childish, but she was scared that the moment she took her eyes away from him he'd change his mind, mind still swimming and floundering and grasping for some comprehension because why was he doing this, why was the guy standing in the shadows letting the iron golem stay still so she could get out, _why was he letting her go?_

A few moments passed, and then Ivor's hand slowly moved.

Still making eye contact with Jesse, still staring right at the dark-haired girl, his hand slowly came to a stop... resting over his heart.

A chill shot up Jesse's back. Suddenly the room was too small, the basement that moments before had felt too big, the stairs miles away, was suddenly more cramped than a sardine tin, the air that had been damp and chilly was now burning hot, her lungs had forgotten how to breathe. She didn't know if it was a coincidence, or an observation of some sort, or a threat, or _what_ , but she wanted out of the room.

She turned, breaking eye contact, and bolted up the steps.

* * *

Ivor watched the small girl race away up the steps, a confusing mess of conflicting emotions and thoughts swirling around in his head as he allowed his hand to drop away.

He'd seen the confusion and fear in her eyes when he'd told the golem to stop, as if he was trying to fool her and the moment she made a run for it, he'd have the iron golem attack again.

Honestly, he'd just wanted her to get out of the basement. That was the only reason he'd summoned the iron golem in the first place– he didn't want to be questioned.

He'd seen the confusion and curiosity in her eyes as she hesitantly moved towards the stairs, staring at him as if what he was doing was foreign to her. Ivor could practically see the cogs in her brain turning when he'd stopped the golem, racing away as she tried to figure out what he was doing, tried to understand what he was doing.

He'd seen the terror in his eyes when he'd put his hand over his heart, mind starting to race away so quickly that it was almost like a rabbit that was startled into fear.

At least she was gone. And at least none of them had realized.

Silently, he looked at the iron golem, still frozen with its arms raised above its head. "Make sure nobody else gets down here," he said quietly, and the iron golem made a low groaning sound as it lowered its arms again, beginning to lumber around in the area in front of the entrance.

With that, Ivor simply stepped out of the niche and walked towards the back of the room, where he kept the setup for the Wither.

One last check. One last look at it.

 _This is it._

* * *

Jesse shoved open the door, Lukas starting back with wide eyes as the door burst open. She could hear Gabriel the Warrior talking in the background, but she was gasping for breath and her glass heart was thudding away inside her chest and she _didn't care_ right now, she was out of that basement.

"Jesse! Oh man, you're okay." With that said, Lukas threw his arms around the shorter girl in a tight hug.

Jesse stumbled a little at the hug but managed to keep herself upright. "I– yeah, I'm fine."

Even though Jesse had just said she was okay, Lukas kept holding her in a tight hug. It was starting to get a little awkward, and Jesse could feel her cheeks growing hot. Reuben– who was at Lukas's feet– gave an insistent squeal, but Lukas just kept holding Jesse in the hug.

Lukas released her a moment later, relief evident on his face. "Oh man, I'm _so_ glad to see you. We got all the way up here but then we couldn't see you anywhere, so Axel figured you were in the basement...

"Axel was right," Jesse agreed, adjusting her overalls a little, "the iron golem clipped me on the back and knocked me down."

Lukas looked at Jesse admiringly. "And you got out? Even after that?"

Jesse was about to tell him about how no, she wouldn't have gotten out unless Ivor had told the iron golem to stop... but then she stopped.

If she told him that, then she'd have to tell him why she'd been racing up the stairs even after he'd let her out. And if she did that, she'd have to explain why she'd been so panicked about the hand-over-the-heart thing. And she didn't want to talk about that.

She could _lie_ , of course, but she was a terrible liar and he probably wouldn't believe her.

So, she just shrugged and gave him a small, slightly sheepish smile.

Lukas gave Jesse another admiring look before wrapping his arms around her in another hug, this time much quicker. "Well, I'm glad you're alright. Now, let's hurry up and meet back up with the others– they went off to go find Gabriel while I came after you."

"Ah, okay." Jesse took a deep, slightly shaky breath, and gave Lukas a smile, even though her glass heart was still thudding away furiously in her chest. "Okay," she repeated.

Lukas smiled at her reassuringly, reaching out and squeezing her shoulder in an... oddly sweet gesture. "I'm glad you're okay," he said, sincerely.

The black-haired girl just gave him a slightly distracted nod, aware that her heart was fluttering away rapidly. "Uh-huh," she agreed vaguely, before shooting him a small smile. "Thanks for coming back for me, Lukas."

"Of course." He gave her a now-slightly awkward nod, left hand plunging deep into his pocket, and he started moving away into the crowd, Jesse following after him quickly as Gabriel announced that he was opening up the floor for questions.

"So, uh, you know with like Ellegaard," an attendee of the keynote called out, "and the dragon, um... what was her favorite food?"

There was a full, three heartbeats of pause at that, and Jesse could count because her heart was still thudding away pretty hard against her chest.

"Bread. Next question!"

Jesse almost giggled at that, having to clap her hand over her mouth to muffle it.

"So..." Jesse was now very aware of Axel's voice, booming over the crowd, as she and Lukas carefully moved through the crowd while trying not to shove them out of the way– Jesse was once again glad she was short– "There's, like, a guy in the basement doing weird stuff. You have to head down there and stop him."

Jesse almost facepalmed. Great, Axel. Way to get Gabriel to help. She might've done it, actually, except that she was now giggling at the awkward declaration.

"... I... see."

"Dude, I don't know how I can be any clearer!" Axel exclaimed, sounding a little annoyed that Gabriel wasn't getting it, "weird guy, doing weird stuff! Freaky, with a side of strange! Why won't you listen to me? What do you want me to do, tell you charades-style?"

Jesse stifled a giggle at that and tried not to make eye contact with Lukas– judging from the muffled sounds he was also making, if she did she was going to explode into giggles.

"I promise you," Gabriel said, looking a little alarmed at the prospect, "that's the _last_ thing I want you to do."

Jesse's stifled giggles began to amplify.

"Four words. Six syllables. Sounds like– 'schmonster in the schmasement.'"

Olivia, Gabriel, and Petra all simultaneously face-palmed.

Jesse's giggles grew so acute that they were silent. She didn't _dare_ look back at Lukas for fear of what his facial expression would be, since he was starting to make little silent choking sounds as well. Sorry Axel, but it's funny.

And then a voice cut through the air and the murmuring, making Jesse and Lukas immediately quit laughing. " _I_ have a question for you."

Lukas gave Jesse a confused look– like, _how did this guy get up here without us noticing?_

Jesse shrugged in reply.

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, I lied a bit when I said there was no Lukesse. There's some Lukesse. I'm not explaining why I said there isn't any in Chapter 9 until later, though.**

 **I'm excited~ May actually hold off on updating anything else for a while and just focus on binge-updating this. I'm still thinking about it.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **AquaK13: Hehe xD / Yeaaaahhh, that'll happen for a while xD / No, you're right. I typed that wrong. xD**

 **LunarTheMooncake: (shrugs) Who knows?**

 **TheAmberShadow: (shrugs) / (snorts) Very true. / Hmm... maybe. Or maybe he'll just start using Coal more to get a rise out of her. Who knows. / Hahaha, does it really! / Hmm, I wonder~ / Lied a little bit, there is some, but you'll see why I said there's none later on. / You'll find out later. / Yes, I've fixed that xD / No. / Very true xD / Well, I mean, I've got ten books of fairytales in my house alone, so that might've just been an indicator to that xD / They know how to read each other's facial expressions and gestures very well. / (shrugs)**

 **homeworkoverload: Yeah, PAMA spoiled that word for me xD / LMAO really? / (shrugs)**

 **NoItsBecky: One of those three is correct. / (laughs) I make my chapters "short, sweet, and to the point." (Well, actually, it's just minimally edited word vomit, so.)**

 **CamronXTheXGamer: (shrugs) You'll find out sooner or later.**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	12. The Creation of a Monster

"Excuse me, sir," Gabriel said impatiently. Now that Jesse was paying attention and not trying to stifle an explosion of laughter at Axel's... interesting way of trying to get Gabriel's attention, Gabriel was starting to develop a slight tic in his right eye, and there was a slight edge to his voice. He must've been getting bombarded with questions earlier. "You'll have to wait your turn."

"Just tell me first," Ivor continued, Jesse glancing over her shoulder and searching for the alchemist– she could only assume that was what he did, seeing all the potions in his basement– but finding nobody.

Which wasn't that surprising in itself. Jesse was short.

"Do you really believe _anyone_ can be great?"

Gabriel's eyes narrowed a bit, clearly annoyed. Jesse was willing to bet that he was starting to regret– hey, that was another rhyme– coming here for the keynote. "With enough hard work, yes."

"Was _that_ where I went wrong?!" Ivor practically spit as he emerged from the crowd, dark blue eyes blazing with an angry light. "I simply didn't _work_ hard enough?!"

The warrior's facial expression changed to one of shock as he stepped backwards, perhaps on reflex. " _Ivor?_ " he gasped, Ivor walking purposefully towards the stage. "Is that really you? What happened..." Gabriel trailed off, composing himself and getting over the shock, before levelling a glare at the black-haired man. "How _dare_ you interrupt like this."

"That's the guy who attacked us in the basement!" Olivia exclaimed, pointing at Ivor and looking at Gabriel.

Petra looked as if she wanted to add many more... _colorful_ descriptors to that, but through what looked like a tremendous amount of will, she managed to just clench her teeth together.

The warrior glared at Ivor, crossing his arms. It came to Jesse's mind that it was almost like a petulant child's reaction. "I wish I could say I was surprised," he growled at the other man.

"If it's surprises you want, you're in for a _treat_ ," Ivor replied, voice practically dripping with venom as he climbed the stairs to the stage. "Why don't you tell them the real story, _Gabriel?_ " The way he spoke Gabriel's name... it was as if someone had just stuck a foul piece of food in his mouth, or some other foul substance.

"I see time has made you bitter," Gabriel said calmly. Jesse didn't know how he could stay so calm while Ivor was glaring at him like that.

"And it's made _you_ ," Ivor was now on stage and standing within arm's reach of Gabriel. Heck, if he'd wanted to, he could've punched the warrior. "An even _bigger_ fool." He turned to face the crowd, putting his arm around Gabriel's shoulder and giving every single member of the audience an icy stare. Gabriel looked about as happy as if someone had dropped a venomous snake on his shoulders. "Now, these people were promised greatness, and I'm ready to deliver."

Jesse's head was spinning, and her glass heart, for the fifty-thousandth time today, was pounding so hard she could easily feel it through her shirt. He'd let her go, he'd been almost _nice_ just now, he hadn't looked this angry even when he'd discovered them in his basement...

What was going on?

Ivor let his arm fall off of Gabriel's shoulders and strode purposefully towards the back of the stage. "I'm sorry this is how they have to learn the truth," he said, almost bitterly.

"Gabriel, you have to stop him!" Jesse almost _screamed_ at the warrior– forget being polite, forget trying to keep everyone from panicking, _every single person in this room_ was in the most danger they'd _ever_ been in– but before he could do anything, Ivor flipped a lever that had been resting on a red beam. The ingredients for the Wither steadily rose out of the floor, two of the Wither Skulls already resting on top of it.

"But nothing built can last forever, Gabriel."

Gabriel's eyes widened as it finally, too late, dawned on him what Ivor was going to do. "Ivor, _no!_ " he yelled, starting towards the back of the stage as Ivor took out the final skull– _Petra's_ skull, it had to be, the other two looked older, not as fresh, because Petra's had been acquired _that day_ – and set it in the center, on top of the weird, machine-like block.

An explosion blasted through the front rows, knocking everyone in range a few steps back and throwing Gabriel and Ivor off of the stage, thick, black smoke rising from the stage.

The Wither rose, three black heads staring blankly at every person in the audience, spine dangling towards the floor, and ribcage clamping onto the still-glowing machine-like block. Ivor, who was on the floor, clambered to his feet, staring at the Wither. Jesse couldn't see his facial expression. "Creature: attack!"

The block suddenly flashed at the order, and the Wither started flying around the building. Too late– far, far too late, as people finally realized how much danger they were actually in– the audience began to scream, terrified shrieks echoing through the hall, shoving and stampeding for the exit in a panic.

Jesse suddenly found herself being shoved along in the mass of people, Reuben no longer anywhere near her, no Lukas, no Petra, no Axel, no Olivia, no _anybody_. "Guys?!" she shouted in panic, even as she was being forced along towards the doors.

Even though she was completely surrounded by people, she felt completely alone right now.

Desperately, she squeezed through the crowd, gently elbowing her way through until she abruptly reached a clear area.

She was relieved beyond belief to see that so far, all of her friends were okay, though perhaps a little frightened. Gabriel was on his feet, eyes wide as he stared at the creature, Reuben was letting out a frightened squeal, Petra looked as if she'd just gotten sucker-punched, Olivia was gnawing at her nails so badly that Jesse was tempted to yank her hand away before Olivia bit away the nails completely and just ended up with blood all over her hands, Axel was muttering something under his breath, and Lukas appeared frozen in terror.

Honestly, Jesse could relate– her heart was now going faster than the piston that Olivia had wired wrong one time and it had just started extending and retracting at the speed of light. It had had considerable force behind it, too.

The Wither turned to stare directly at Jesse– and then promptly spit out a flaming skull.

Fear shot through Jesse with the speed and force of a gunshot, adrenaline promptly taking control of her instincts. Before she knew it, she was diving out of the way in the nick of time as the skull detonated and leaving a crater where there was previously floor. Clawing her way back into a standing position, Jesse was just in time to dodge another one of the grinning skulls.

Lukas suddenly let out a gasp and staggered back a few steps, as a block in the floor beneath him shook violently as it was sucked out of the floor, soaring towards the Wither–

Which seemed to absorb it.

The walls were beginning to fall apart as the monster sucked blocks that composed the walls towards it, as well as a poster, a vase, some carpet, and soon there was a hurricane of objects being sucked up into the Wither, adding what looked like black, shadowy stuff to it.

"Everyone, stay calm!" Gabriel shouted, drawing a diamond sword, "this foul beast is no match for me!"

Ivor lifted his arm and pointed at Gabriel, staring at the creature. He looked almost like a child tattling on another one. "Creature: attack!" he repeated.

The machine-like block flashed again, and the Wither slowly turned to face Gabriel. The warrior leaped into the air– much higher than Jesse would've been able to manage– and slammed the diamond blade into the glowing block.

The blow didn't even _dent_ the block– actually, on the contrary, a shockwave of force slammed into Gabriel and sent him crashing to the floor, sword skittering out of reach.

Axel made an odd, strangled sound at the back of his throat.

"What have you done...?" Gabriel groaned as he shook his head, pushing himself into a painful sitting position.

"Gabriel–" Jesse started towards the warrior, trying to help him up, offer him assistance, as pitiful as it might be, do _anything_ –

"No!" the warrior jolted to his feet, whirling around to face Jesse. Fear was written into every line of his face as he regarded the much-shorter girl. "Stay away! It's after me, not you!"

Gabriel wasn't currently facing Jesse, so he didn't see the Wither firing one of the flaming skull-bombs at him. The shorter girl quickly lunged forward, seized his arm, and dragged him sideways, the entire group darting over a few steps to avoid the bomb detonating another crater in the floor. At this rate, they'd be standing on an island of floor.

"Look at him, the mighty Gabriel!" Ivor taunted, dark blue eyes glinting with... _something_. It was another one of those looks that Jesse couldn't recognize, but unlike the others, Jesse wasn't sure she wanted to figure out what it was. "Looks like true greatness is out of his reach. He may not be able to defeat this creature, but I can!"

The alchemist– or– well, whatever he was– turned to face the Wither. "Creature: retreat!" he said aloud, raising his voice to be heard above the howling sound that the wind that all of the sucked-up items were creating.

Jesse looked up at the Wither automatically, just to see what it did–

Something caught in her lungs. It might've been her breath. It might've been her heart. Heck, if her heart had still been _in_ her body, she was sure it would've migrated up to her throat by now.

The Wither's center head had morphed into something right out of a _nightmare_. It was the same shade of black, but now there was a single, glowing, indigo eye where before there had been two. The head had morphed into something strange and animalistic, the mouth now an uneven gash in the monster's head that went almost all the way around the skull. The 'lips' of the creature were parted enough to reveal almost _blue_ teeth, all looking clumsy but carnivorous and slightly rotted.

Besides looking as if it had just come from Jesse's worst nightmare, it did nothing except turn to face Ivor.

Ivor cleared his throat, a little more uncertainly. Was that a flicker of fear in his eyes? "Creature– retreat," he tried again, enunciating his words more carefully.

Now the Wither simply started drifting towards Ivor.

Now the man looked _extremely_ bothered– almost scared, really.

It occurred to Jesse that there was something _off_ about Ivor. Not the same thing that was off about Lukas, although she couldn't place quite what that was either, but definitely _something_ was off about him.

But for the life of her, she couldn't tell what it was. Especially while not being in the middle of what felt like a hurricane, with wooden blocks flying from the walls and swirling around before slamming into the Wither, which didn't seem troubled by being hit by every block in a twenty-yard radius and was, in fact, absorbing it.

Ivor swallowed– if he'd done it any harder or louder, it would've been a gulp. "Uh– no need to be alarmed, my friends."

For there being 'no need to be alarmed', he sounded pretty alarmed.

"I have an elixir that will destroy this creature."

Jesse's head snapped up, and she twisted over her shoulder wide-eyed at Axel.

An elixir... a potion.

Ivor pulled out a purple potion, and Axel paled as he realized what Jesse was looking so panicked about. "Uh-oh."

The older man yanked out the cork and hurled the potion at the glowing block. It smashed into a miniature explosion of purple smoke, but– as expected– the Wither remained completely unharmed. Ivor, if possible, turned _even paler_ than before, eyes widening as he took a half-step back in shock. "W-what? Impossible!" he muttered, as if to himself, "it should've worked– I took such care– the Command Block shouldn't still be–!"

"The potion– Axel, you have to throw the _real_ potion!" Olivia hissed at the burly boy, eyes widening in fear. Some of her curly hair was blowing around so fiercely that Jesse half-expected her ponytail holders to come flying off.

Axel frowned. "But... finders keepers!"

"You thieves, you're ruining everything!" Ivor snapped, having apparently heard this remark.

Lukas shot Axel a white-faced look of disbelief, and Petra looked as if she might punch him.

Axel reluctantly pulled out the glowing, purple potion. Jesse snatched it out of his hands so fast that she nearly dropped it on the floor, before she turned on her heel and pulled her arm back in a throwing position, taking aim as quickly as she could. "Jesse, throw it!" Olivia commanded her, loudly, in order to be heard over the howling wind.

Jesse threw it as hard as she could, the potion soaring straight at the Command Block–

A strange, black skin crawled over the Command Block and shielded it from view just before the potion bottle hit the block and shattered, a miasma of purple and silver and gold smoke rising from where the potion had shattered.

"It's _protecting_ itself...!" Ivor muttered, horror shining in his eyes. "Without the Command Block exposed, the potion is useless... it wasn't supposed to happen like this..." He backed away a step. And then another.

Petra let out a furious snarl at that. "Oh, no you d–"

Before she could finish the statement, Ivor turned tail and fled.

Petra growled, glaring after Ivor furiously. She stood her ground, though, eyes practically smoldering with anger as she turned back to the matter at hand. She looked as if she wanted to chase him down and then punch his teeth in.

"Ivor!" Gabriel practically roared after the other man, his own eyes glinting with anger, "you _coward_ , get back here!"

But Ivor did not come back.

Abruptly, a purple-indigo beam fell on the warrior, and he let out an alarmed shout as he began getting lifted into the air by the beam. Olivia sprinted forward and seized one of his legs, but her own feet started lifting off the floor. "Jesse, help me!" she yelled, the shorter girl sprinting forward and grabbing ahold of the other leg without hesitation. After a few seconds of tug of war with the beam, Jesse and Olivia succeeded, and Gabriel toppled out of the beam to the floor.

Jesse offered him her hand, and the warrior heaved himself back to his feet. (He almost yanked Jesse on top of him, and he probably would've if she wasn't expecting him to be so forceful and dug her heels in. As it was, she nearly lost her balance.) "Thank you," he told her gratefully, before his lips pressed into a thin line and he glanced back at the Wither, which looked about the size of Jesse's treehouse by now. "Ivor was right about one thing... I can't defeat that thing. Not by myself."

He now looked at the gang as if he was truly seeing them for the first time. "Everyone's running away... except for you." He considered whatever his idea was for a moment, staring at the five of them, before he gave a slight, determined nod. "Will you help me? I must get to the temple... but what comes next, I can't do alone."

Jesse's heart was thudding away in her chest with such force that she was worried that it was going to go right through her pocket, her hands were trembling, and she was out of breath.

After this was all over, Jesse thought back and realized that she could've declined, of course. Could've told him _no!_ because she was terrified and felt like she might just faint if she actually thought about what was happening, the chaos currently surrounding her, the howling wind around her. Could've let someone else step forward and agree, let herself be lead along like a lamb. Like Petra, for example. Petra was braver than she was. And Petra's heart wasn't made of glass.

But in that moment, surrounded by a hurricane of flying objects, glass heart beating away so hard that if it went any harder or faster it would shatter into a million pieces from the inside out, it never even occurred to her to say no.

"Of course!"

Gabriel gave a satisfied nod. "Follow me!" he shouted, and the entire group turned tail and, following the example of everyone else who'd been in the keynote, sprinted away as quickly as they could, the howling of a supernatural, living storm catching up to them with every step they took, no matter how quickly they moved, no matter how fast they ran.

Even as Jesse followed them, she couldn't help thinking that her Fairytale Curse was 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier.'

The soldier, even when thrown into a fire, even when he was thrown out a window, was steadfast in his attempts to get back to the ballerina. He faced death without any change in expression. He did everything he could to get back to the ballerina. He was brave.

But Jesse had never been more afraid.

* * *

 **A/N: Excitement~**

 **Okay, so here's a planned update schedule– I'm going to update this story until I get bored of it, then move onto HCM and update that until I get bored, then move onto Composite and update until I get bored, then move onto Minecraft: Normal Mode and Just a Game and update those until I get bored. Wash, rinse, repeat. xD**

 **Don't worry– if you're waiting for Hybrid: Cinematic Mode, I have plenty of stuff planned. I just don't have any interest in working on it right now, and, well, fanfiction is fun for me, not a chore. I don't want it to ever become something that I feel like I _have_ to do, like washing the dishes or vacuuming. If I try to write stuff that I'm not fully invested in writing, I feel like it will feel forced and won't read as smoothly, and that wouldn't be good for you guys _or_ me.**

 **So yeah. Fairytale Curse until I get bored, and then so on so forth. xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **NoItsBecky: (shrugs) / Trust me, so many people are going to be angry with me when I get to a certain point xD but thank you.**

 **LunarTheMooncake: (pats) / Hehe~**

 **ShiningHopeBeast: (laughs) If you were, I would suggest more of a 'hrm' than a 'hmm' xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: (snorts) Jesse's pants HAVE caught on fire before. / Indeed I am xD / Don't throw _anything_ at Petra, unless you're in a dangerous situation or you're playing catch. / (chuckles) / Very true! xD / Guess what? / No. xD Not a bad guess, though. / Hugs~ / Well, also, he's taller and can probably attract Gabriel's attention more easily. / No. xD**

 **J.M.M.: (laughs) / (blinks)**

 **AquaK13: (laughs) Sorry, I update fast. / Hehe / (shrugs) / (laughs) You'll see why I said there's 'no Lukesse' earlier...**

 **Toni42: Indeed xD / :3**

 **That's all for now!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	13. Straight into the Fire

Jesse skidded to a halt just before she started over the bridge, because blocking her path– probably all from the chicken machine they'd wrecked earlier, she thought a little ruefully– was a small flock of chickens. "Out of my way, you chickens!" she scolded, acutely aware that Reuben and the others were already halfway across the bridge.

A smashing noise exploded behind her, the sound of glass shattering and crumbling practically sending a shockwave through the area. Automatically, Jesse turned to see what the sound was–

She stifled a hysterical shriek. The Wither had grown _bigger_. Blacker than a starless night sky, with writhing tentacles to boot, the Wither rose through what had used to be the ceiling of the keynote, indigo eye now about Jesse's size. Each tooth was easily the size of a block, and there was now a foul perfume wafting through the air– something sickly sweet and sour and bitter, all at once.

To add to the nightmare, two additional heads lifted, indigo eyes flickering to life as they looked around, releasing a screeching, dissonant roar.

Two more of the beams that had sucked Gabriel up shot into the crowd, people in the screaming crowd ahead of her getting sucked up into the Wither as if they were blocks.

Jesse didn't stick around to check what happened when they reached the Wither– no, not the Wither. This wasn't a Wither anymore. It looked a little _like_ a Wither, but it was definitely _not_ a Wither. The monster, then. – the _monster_ , but instead whirled around and charged past the chickens, following the crowd as they tried to flee the monster.

She'd made it exactly halfway across the bridge when a purple light surrounded her. She was confused– until she felt her feet lifting off of the bridge. Letting out a startled yelp, she quickly revolved in the air and seized ahold of the bridge– and realized that the section of bridge she'd been on was starting to lift into the air as well, the stone letting out strange cracking sounds as it was broken off of the rest of the bridge.

Her blood pressure had to be through the roof right now, with how hard her glass heart was pumping away in her chest.

"Hey– guys!" Jesse screamed, green eyes flickering over the crowd in search of the others, but there was nobody there. She couldn't spot Lukas's blonde hair and ocelot on the back of his jacket, she couldn't spot a little pink pig, she couldn't see Petra's familiar, striped bandana, she couldn't even see Axel's huge figure. "I'm up here!" she yelled, hoping beyond hope they could hear her. "Someone help me!"

There was no reply amidst the screams and the chaos– except that a chicken that had been caught in the beam fluttered out and landed without any problem, clucking contentedly.

Jesse stared at the chicken, before her eyes hardened a little.

If nobody was going to come save her, she supposed she'd have to save herself.

Reaching out with one hand, aware that she was putting herself in danger with releasing one point of anchoring herself to this piece of bridge, she scrabbled at the stones that made up the bridge, searching for some sort of handhold–

She found one. Fingers digging into the small crack between stones, wincing a little as the rough stones pinched and scraped her fingers a little, she released her other hand and reached out again. Slowly, but surely, she began inching forward, pulling her slowly forward towards the edge of the tractor beam as the piece of bridge rose higher and higher.

 _Faster_.

She reached the other end of the bridge, the end of the tractor beam only inches away now.

 _C'mon_.

Jesse's arms pushed forward desperately, and she suddenly found herself toppling forward, gravity suddenly deciding to kick back in. Hastily, Jesse wrapped her arms around her chest protectively, feeling the glass heart pound away against her chest and her arms as she tucked her head.

She landed hard on her back, all the air in her lungs being flattened out of her lungs in a heartbeat– and trust me, with her arms pressing her heart to her chest, she could count– before the momentum launched her into a flip, and she landed flat on her stomach, arms stinging. It felt like the stone had scraped them a little.

Jesse lay there for a moment, appreciating the fact that she was alive but not really appreciating the fact that most of her body felt like it was in pain, lungs desperately grasping for air–

They finally remembered how to work again, and Jesse found herself able to inhale properly. Scrambling to her feet, she sprinted forwards, dodging the people that were racing around like panicked, headless chickens– before spotting Lukas. Hastily leaping over a small flock of chickens that were blocking the way, she sprinted right for him. "Lukas!" she shouted.

The blonde whirled around, searching for the source of the voice, and ran up to Jesse, face pale. " _Holy crap!_ " he exclaimed, "oh man, if you were still in that basement..."

Jesse swallowed nervously at the idea of that.

She might've still _been_ in the basement if Ivor hadn't let her go.

"I'm glad you're okay." Lukas gave her a warm grin, reaching out and squeezing her shoulder gently.

The black-haired girl didn't even have time to have a proper reaction to that when she heard a shout from nearby. "Jesse!"

Both of them turned, Lukas's hand practically jumping off of Jesse's shoulder as if she was a hot potato, scanning the crowd and spotting Petra, Axel, Olivia, and Reuben taking shelter under a tent roof. The blonde and the black-haired girl were quick to run for them, but not a second after Jesse ducked under the tent herself, the tent gave way as it was pulled up into the air, the posts holding it up cracking as they were wrenched out of the ground or broken apart. Purple light flooded the area.

They all screamed and scattered.

"Wait– wait! We have to stay together!" Jesse shouted, to no avail as they all fled.

"Jesse!"

Jesse turned again to see Petra practically floundering in the air, horror written across the redhead's face as she began to float towards the Witherstorm, a tractor beam steadily pulling her up. "Help me!"

Jesse pounced and seized ahold of Petra's hand, her free hand lashing out behind her and seizing ahold of one of the broken-off posts that had been supporting the tent roof they'd just been under, hoping against hope that the tractor beam would move away a moment later and they'd be fine.

Except, of course, it didn't. It seemed determined to eat them both up.

The shorter girl's feet began to float off of the floor, and the post began to tremble from Jesse's weight and the pull of the tractor beam. "It's breaking!" Jesse yelled, aware that Petra was desperately clinging to her hand like her life depended on it.

Which, of course, it did.

The post, with a crunching sound, broke, and Jesse let out a terrified scream. Petra, behind her, was now squeezing her hand so far that she was pretty sure that it was going to break.

A hand lashed out and seized ahold of Jesse's foot before she could rise too far up, Gabriel's face grim as he braced his feet to keep them all from floating into the air and, undoubtedly, to their deaths.

The tractor beam finally decided to move away, and the three of them tumbled to the to ground with yelps of pain. Olivia, Axel, Lukas, and Reuben, apparently having realized that they were missing, raced up to them, all of their eyes wide with fear.

"Do we have everyone?" Jesse asked shakily, heart going at the speed of a rabbit's, which was pretty fast, as she did the quickest headcount of all time. Gabriel began to run in a separate direction, although he seemed to be waiting for them.

"We must set out for my fortress," Gabriel shouted over his shoulder, "we'll be better protected there!"

Instantly, the others started running after him, objects being pulled apart and flying up into the storm above them. Jesse didn't dare look up again– that one glimpse of the monster, with those giant indigo eyes and animalistic skulls and dozens of writhing tentacles, was enough to give her nightmares. She didn't need more.

"Thanks for that just now," Petra panted to Jesse, slowing down a little so that she could keep pace with the shorter girl.

"Yeah, well, now we're even–" Jesse cut herself off as she gasped, the storm– the monster– the Wither– the Witherstorm roared loudly, beginning to drift after the crowd. And while that does not sound threatening, when there's a monstrous Wither about the size of a school floating above your heads and growing bigger by the second, you don't want that approaching you in any way, shape, or form.

"INCOMING!" Petra tackled Jesse to the side, a flaming skull shooting out and detonating, leaving a gaping crater in the ground.

Petra lunged to her feet, yanking Jesse with her, and continued racing forward. Jesse increased her speed the best she could, swerving and ducking to avoid the burning skulls practically raining down like a meteor shower. A few of the holes in the ground were too deep or big, and she just leaped over them to save time.

A group of people ran past screaming, a tractor beam flickering to life and chasing them. Jesse skittered to the left to avoid it, still sprinting for the gate of Endercon. Ahead of her, she could see that the redhead and her little pig were already out.

And now the gate was coming down.

Her glass heart went into overdrive– if it hadn't already _been_ in overdrive before this, it definitely was now– and before she could think about it, she put on a burst of speed, ducking down into a roll in the nick of time as the gate slammed shut just behind her. In fact, it was so close that she heard a ripping sound through all the chaos and glanced down to see that the leg of her overalls now had a sizable tear in it.

Jesse continued running after the others, her lungs dragging in air, her heart pounding away unsteadily as Gabriel yelled, from where he was up ahead, "Stick together, everyone! We'll be safe as soon as we get to my temple!"

Jesse glanced over her shoulder to check the Witherstorm's progress– and screamed as it started shooting more of the flaming skulls out of its mouths.

Fire.

The skulls hit the trees and set them ablaze, which spread and set even _more_ trees on fire. The Witherstorm continued spitting out fiery skulls, now setting grass, trees, _anything_ that was flammable on fire. It was as if they were running through a forest of fire.

Terror was now making Jesse's heart skip every other beat, so it now felt like her heart was a malfunctioning piston. As it was, it was enough to pump adrenaline through her body and scream at every logical part of her brain– _GET MOVING, STUPID!_

Jesse swerved around a huge hole that had been created by the Witherstorm, before coming across another one literally milliseconds after. Without thinking, she launched herself into the air over the hole, landing in a roll and continuing her sprint. She also continually swerved around any small fires that were nearby, heat tingling against her skin as the crackling, hissing pops of the fire seemed to whisper threats to her.

"Everyone, keep going!" Gabriel yelled over the screaming up ahead, making Jesse lift her head to realize that there was a split in the path up ahead, "we'll meet up on the other side!"

 _If I'm still alive on the other side_ , Jesse thought, slightly hysterically.

Jesse swerved to the right, where she saw Axel, Reuben, and Olivia sprinting through the forest. Tractor beams were roving across the forest floor, searching for people to swallow up. Up ahead, Axel barely managed to dodge away from one in the nick of time.

Jesse tore her eyes from Axel– and immediately felt her breath freeze in her lungs. If her heart had been skipping every other beat before, it had now just skipped three in a row.

There was a wall of fire in front of her.

There was a literal wall, going up to her waist, of pure flame, extending about fifty feet to the left and the right. She could see tongues of flame slowly stretch towards her, as if trying to grab ahold of her– or maybe that was just her imagination. She could feel the heat hitting her like a physical slap to the face, even from back here, and she wanted to skid to a stop, but she couldn't– her heart was screaming _stop_ , and every other part of her was saying _run and jump_. Unfortunately for her now-skipping heart, her body was obeying the _run and jump_ command.

 _I'm going to die._

 _No you won't._

 _It's fire, if I so much as bump into it a little I'm going to catch on fire and then I'm going to burn to death_ –

 _If you don't jump over it, you will_ definitely _die via the giant monster with THREE HEADS behind you._

It was too late– she was almost on the wall of flames. She either had to decide whether to stop in her tracks and get killed by the monster _behind_ her, or leap over the fire and risk dying via– well, you know– fire.

It took Jesse a second to decide.

She tensed her knees and leaped into the air, launching herself above the wall of flames, please make it, please make it, _please make it_ _–_

Her feet slammed solidly into the ground, sending a little jolt up her spine as she stumbled forward a few steps. But besides the initial shock up her spine from landing so solidly... nothing. No pain, no burning feeling. Nothing.

Hardly believing her luck, Jesse bolted forwards, relieved to see that the path had reconverged, flaming trees still surrounding them on every side with most everybody still there. (She couldn't be entirely sure. She didn't remember how many people there'd been initially.) At least all of her friends were still there, although Jesse was starting to fall behind. What with the hesitation at the fire and the fact that she was _so darn short_ , she was running out of breath and ability to run.

"The temple is just up ahead!" Gabriel shouted, voice cutting through all the chaos again, "follow me!"

Jesse managed to get past the last burning tree. Glancing to the side and shooting the tree a little sigh of relief, she suddenly spotted a writhing black tentacle squirming around in the air– accompanied by several more. One made a swipe for her, but the girl launched herself sideways and avoided it by a hair's breadth– she quickly swerved the other direction to avoid yet another one.

Ahead of her, Axel, Olivia, Lukas, and Petra were still running at full tilt towards the temple, although Jesse was unfortunately lagging behind a bit now.

To emphasize the unfortunate factor, a giant tentacle thrashed out of the air and smashed into the ground in front of her, creating another obstacle that was about waist-high.

The short girl simply vaulted over this, barely clearing it without tripping, and simply kept running forward, catching up with Gabriel, who'd slowed to a stop to wait for Jesse, and bolted up the steps. "Hurry, inside!" Gabriel urged her, the girl entering the temple without another word. He followed her, leading her down a small flight of stairs, where the others were waiting, white-faced. Reuben let out a relieved little oink at the sight of the black-haired girl.

"The inner chamber's made entirely of obsidian," Gabriel announced, flipping a lever and allowing the door to the inner chamber to slide open, "we should be untouchable in there." Inside the inner chamber, there was a solitary, unlit ring of obsidian blocks standing on a pedestal.

A Nether portal.

Before Jesse's heart could freeze up again, purple light flooded the room. Jesse let out a strangled scream and raced into the room, the others hot on her heels as they burst into the room. Gabriel followed, before drawing another diamond sword and fending a tentacle off, keeping it from chasing the others. "Hurry– if you can get through the portal, you'll be safe," he instructed them.

 _I won't_ , Jesse thought dazedly.

The five of them– no, six of them, Reuben was still at her feet– raced up the steps to the portal, Axel being the first to charge through.

But he didn't end up in the Nether– just on the other side of the platform. "Uhh, something's wrong here!" he exclaimed, experimentally testing the air with his hand.

"It's not lit!" Olivia exclaimed.

Jesse reached into her pockets and pulled out the flint and steel, trying to hide the fact that her hands were shaking. Now was not the time to worry that she was going to catch on fire– everyone would die if she didn't do this.

Extending her arms as far as she could away from her body, into the center of the portal, she clicked them together sharply. Sparks flew, and then suddenly the center of the portal was glowing bright purple.

Jesse was pretty sure she was using up every single ounce of luck that was allotted to her for the month. Heck, she might be using up every bit of luck that was allotted to her for her entire life.

Well, whatever the case was, she wasn't going to argue.

* * *

 **A/N: Whoooof, we're headed to the Nether.**

 **... yay xD**

 **Finally done with what I consider the boring part! Be prepared for a good amount of twists to be launched at you readers... uh... soon. xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **LunarTheMooncake: Lol xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: (shrugs) He might've just been threatening her. I dunno. / You'll see. / (pats) / (shrugs) / Probably something else would've happened– that universe just insists on putting Jesse in the most danger or separating them from their friends xD / Couldn't have said it better. Jesse probably knows that but is just panicked. / :3**

 **And that's it x3**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	14. The Nether

"Everyone, get in! Now!" Petra ordered sharply. Her tone brooked no room for argument.

Olivia was the first to charge through the portal. Axel hesitated only a second, before scooping Reuben up and dashing through as well. Jesse, Petra, and Lukas probably would've charged in straight in– if a scream hadn't shattered the air.

Jesse spun back around to see that a tentacle was clinging onto Gabriel's ankle, dragging him across the floor. The warrior was on his back and desperately thrashing in an attempt to free himself. "Gabriel!" Jesse shouted, turning from where she'd been about to run through the portal and racing down the steps instinctively.

A tentacle smashed through the ceiling, but Jesse ignored that– dodging the tentacle and some debris that rained through the ceiling– and seized ahold of Gabriel's hand. Behind her, the sound of a sword being drawn greeted her ears– probably Petra– but she barely had time to think about it before a hefty tug nearly jerked Jesse off of her feet.

She barely managed to dig her heels in in time, and for a few seconds, the small black-haired girl proceeded to play tug-of-war with a much larger, much stronger, much more frightening living storm with three heads, tractor beams, and tentacles.

Jesse won, Gabriel dropping back to the floor as the tentacle snaked back out violently, instead knocking over two people who'd been trying to get in.

"Thank you," Gabriel managed breathlessly, glancing over his shoulder. His shoulders dropped a bit, and his voice sounded exhausted when he spoke again. "There are so many of them... I-I can't save them all..." He slowly turned to face Jesse, eyes glinting with determination. "I can't stop this by myself. We need to find the others."

Jesse blinked rapidly at him. "The... others?"

"Soren's been missing for years," Gabriel continued, as if Jesse hadn't spoken, "but the others... you must seek them out." He pulled out an object a little larger than his hand– an amulet. In the center of the amulet was a dark blue gem ringed by gold, before they connected to four bar-like gems that connected to a larger, black ring. On the outside of the ring were a few small, gold bits. The cyan gem was glowing brightly. "Take this amulet, and guard it with your life."

Jesse looked from the amulet to Gabriel. Was he being serious? He wanted the girl with the fragile heart who would literally burn to death if she so much as brushed her hand against a fire to protect it? Heck, he wanted _her_ to– what? Reunite the Order of the Stone?

"You can do this," Gabriel urged, after a moment. "You must!"

Jesse looked at the amulet and frowned a little. "How am I supposed to find Magnus and Ellegaard?" she asked, after a moment. It was a valid question– as far as she knew, the Order of the Stone was spread out all over the world by now.

"The amulet will guide you," Gabriel told her cryptically, pushing the item into Jesse's hands, "take it through the portal, and then–"

He was cut off by the cracking and crumbling of stone and obsidian. Jesse looked up automatically see the roof being torn open, an indigo eye flashing into view as it leered down into the room. A tentacle came hurtling through the opening, and the black-haired girl dodged backwards just in time to avoid getting smashed into a pancake.

Petra let out a scream behind her, and Jesse spun on the spot just in time to see a tentacle bat her away like a Ping-Pong ball.

Jesse whipped out her gold sword, racing forward to help her friend. The tentacle thrashed at her head, but Jesse dove to the floor and it sailed over her harmlessly. Leaping back to her feet, she whacked it with her sword, but it didn't seem to do anything.

Lukas screamed as the tentacle turned towards him– Petra jumped in front of it and slammed it away with such force that it actually opened up a small cut on the otherwise-seemingly-impenetrable tentacle, eyes flashing as she defended her friend. The tentacle retreated.

"You two," Petra shouted to Jesse and Lukas, "go through the portal and meet up with the others. I'll stay here and do whatever I can."

She moved to fight the tentacles, before stopping when she realized that neither Jesse or Lukas had moved a muscle. "Go on, Jesse, _go!_ " the redhead urged her. "Go through that portal, _now._ "

"I'll stay here and help too–!"

" _No_." Petra's gaze could've burned holes in Jesse. "The others _need_ you, Jesse. Go. Now. If anything happens, I'll meet you guys at the temple."

Before Jesse could protest again, before Lukas could even move a muscle, before Petra could yell at them again, Gabriel let out a shout, and the entire group spun around to see the warrior caught up in a tractor beam, being dragged up towards the Witherstorm. Petra and Jesse wordlessly charged forward to help– but then another tractor beam fell on Petra, lifting the redhead off the floor and making Petra let out a shriek.

Lukas let out a gasp. Jesse spun around to face the blonde, fear making her heart beat so fast that she'd be lucky if her blood pressure wasn't permanently raised when this was all over. "Lukas!"

The blonde let out a terrified scream, his left hand shoved deep into his left pocket and throttling whatever it was that was in there, but he was just frozen there in shock and fear.

Seeing no help from that wing, Jesse whirled around and leaped up into the air, seizing ahold of Petra's leg and heaving the redhead down and backwards, out of the beam. Both girls dropped to the ground heavily, Jesse winding up on her back and Petra on her hands and knees.

"Thanks, Jesse," Petra panted, looking relieved, before her expression changed to one of horror as she realized– "Gabriel's still up there!"

Jesse's head snapped around to look up, where Gabriel was still struggling to free himself from the tractor beam, having managed to turn himself sideways and now so far up that there was no chance of Jesse grabbing ahold of him. "Jesse! Go!" he yelled at the girl.

"No!" she cried out, scrambling to her feet and racing towards Gabriel. Another tentacle smashed down and she ducked to avoid it– just in time for it to swing around again and slam into her, sending her flying up the steps towards the portal with a scream. Lukas let out a gasp and threw up his hands, as if to catch her–

Jesse slammed into him, and the two of them toppled through the portal together.

* * *

The portal spit Jesse and Lukas out, the two of them crashing to what felt like oddly soft but still firm ground. Immediately, Jesse could feel the heat surrounding her, inhaling the smell of burned items and of heat itself. She didn't dare get up as she stared at the reddish ceiling, her heart beginning to flutter so rapidly that she couldn't feel the independent beats anymore.

She was in the Nether.

She was in a literal world of fire.

"Jesse?" Lukas was now blocking her view of the ceiling, blue eyes filled with worry as he stared at her. "Are you okay?"

Reuben appeared next to him, snuffling slightly and poking Jesse's face with his nose.

Jesse couldn't say anything. It was as if the heat was wrapping a vise around her lungs, slowly squeezing tighter... tighter... she couldn't breathe.

"What happened? Where's Petra?" Axel asked, from nearby– _so he's okay_ , Jesse thought in relief, as she slowly sat up. Lukas retreated a bit so that she wouldn't clonk her head against his while she sat up, eyes scanning the world around her. The ground beneath her looked almost... like meat. (Which was a really gross thought in itself.) There was an ocean of lava to Jesse's back, and random fires burning everywhere.

 _This is no place for the Steadfast Tin Soldier._

"We did everything we could," Lukas spoke, shakily– or, at least, his lips moved and formed the words, but he was shaking so hard and there were tears forming in his eyes and he looked _terrified,_ and absolutely nothing came out.

"What are you saying?" Axel looked a little worried now.

"Jesse...?" Olivia swallowed, panic beginning to make her voice rise in pitch. "What is he talking about? Because whatever it is... it doesn't sound good."

Jesse's vocal cords finally started working again, carefully inching herself away from any immediate fire, "It was–" Her voice came out as a squeak, and she coughed a little. "It was chaos. There wasn't much I could do."

"Jesse's right," Lukas spoke, again shakily, but this time at least his voice came out.

The black-haired girl reached up and pressed her hand against her glass heart, feeling it slow down to a still-unnaturally-fast beat, but she could at least feel the independent beats again. "Petra's... Petra's still up there."

"I got scared," Lukas's voice cracked as he spoke, as he slowly looked up to face the others with shame and guilt flooding his face, "just for a second."

Axel's eyes hardened, and he glared at Lukas so heatedly it was a wonder that the Ocelot hadn't caught on fire. "You got _scared?_ "

"I'm sorry," the blonde's left hand was throttling whatever it was that was in his left pocket, face so pale that it was nearly pure white. "Oh, Notch, I'm _sorry_."

"You got scared," Axel repeated, threateningly, glowering at the blonde, "and all you can say is _you're sorry_?"

Olivia spoke up, shooting Axel a look that Jesse couldn't quite place, although it was hard to tell– despite all the firelight and the lavalight, certain areas were still dim enough that shadows made it a bit more difficult to see. "Back off, Axel."

"We gotta go back," Axel insisted instantly, turning towards the portal.

"No!" Olivia stepped in front of the portal, blocking Axel's path. It was a sign of how much Axel cared about his friend that he didn't just push Olivia out of the way. "We just have to wait. Think about what you're walking into."

"There's nothing you can do," Jesse agreed with Olivia, still holding her glass heart and feeling it calm down even more– she'd had luck about three (hundred) times today. She might get lucky again. "You'll just end up getting yourself killed."

"You don't know that!" Axel argued, face screwing up a little as if he wanted to cry, "you don't know–"

Lukas gasped, lifting an arm and pointing at the portal behind Axel. "Hey– there she is!" he exclaimed, excitedly.

Immediately, Axel stepped aside to show that the see-through, purple curtain in the portal was rippling and swaying, indicating that someone was coming through. A watery silhouette started showing itself as they travelled through the portal.

"C'mon," Jesse mumbled, "c'mon!"

But it wasn't Petra who toppled through the portal. No, it was a man wearing olive-green robes with long, slightly unevenly-cut long black hair that landed on his hands and knees.

Everyone's grins faded to glares– except for Jesse's. Her heart, which had calmed down to a faintly normal speed again, started speeding up again, at the sight of the man who'd made a single gesture– one– and now she didn't know what he'd meant by it.

Ivor.

Ivor clambered to his feet, his expression darkening into a glare when he saw who it was. The dim shadows from the wavering firelight and the faint lava-light didn't help the expression look any more friendly. " _You_ again?"

Before anybody could say anything, a tentacle suddenly shot through the portal with tremendous force, lashing back and forth. The entire group screamed and avoided the tentacles, Lukas stumbling and landing hard on his back as he tried to avoid it.

Ivor dodged sideways and slammed into Jesse, making the petite girl stumble, lose her balance, and fall to the ground, mere inches from the lava– which actually may have ended saving her life, because the tentacle whipped through the air where her head had been literal milliseconds after she fell– before the tentacle found the portal and wrapped around it, snaking around it like some sort of giant, evil plant.

And then it _squeezed_. The purple curtain flashed and flickered, the obsidian trembled, before it gave under the tremendous force, falling to pieces. The tentacle vanished along with the portal.

For a few moments, the entire group just sat or stood there gaping at where the portal had been, mere moments before. Axel had a look of pure horror on his face as he stared at where the portal had been.

Jesse was still lying on the ground, trying to catch her breath and steady her pounding heart, before she glanced over at the man who'd just saved her life for the second time that day.

But he was also the man that'd caused all of this.

"Ivor." Her voice echoed a bit in the silence.

He glanced down at her, dark blue eyes practically black in the firelight, before his gaze hardened and she suddenly found herself being heaved into the air by the front of her shirt, dragged away from the lava as he glared at her. "You ruined _everything,_ " he said, coldly enough to send chills running down her spine despite how hot and dry it was down here.

"Let her go!"

Ivor did just that, and Jesse took the opportunity and backed straight into Lukas's grip, his hand resting on her shoulder protectively. It was a nice gesture, considering how unfriendly their two friend groups were with each other.

"Don't pretend you don't know, _thief_ ," Ivor practically growled at Jesse, "you took my most valuable potion and what should've been my moment of triumph."

"This is _your_ fault!" Jesse exclaimed back, still feeling tremors running down her back from what he'd just done.

"I had a plan," Ivor spat back, "and you interfered."

Jesse could hardly believe that she'd thought this guy had been nice before. "Your _plan_ ," she emphasized 'plan' a little sarcastically, "was to set off a _Wither_ in a theater full of _people!_ "

"A Wither I could control!" Ivor corrected her. "That is, until you showed up. There's nothing _left_ up there! Nothing but that Wither Storm."

Jesse's hand migrated to her chest again, squeezing her glass heart tightly until her knuckles turned practically white. It was still beating faster than normal, and she took a deep, shaky breath in an effort to calm it down.

Ivor's eyes flickered to the motion.

 _Hand over heart._

Jesse slowly forced herself to let her hands drop back to her sides, breathing still shaky and unsteady as she tried to play it cool. The man's eyes flickered back up to Jesse's face, his expression... well, it was a bit dim over here, but it looked almost softer somehow.

"Why are we wasting time talking to this jerk?" Axel growled, having apparently lost his temper and his patience, "we have to go help Petra!"

Ivor's eyes widened. "The girl. I saw her."

Lukas gasped, eyes widening. "What?" he breathed.

"While I was running to the portal, I passed her," Ivor explained. "She was running in the opposite direction."

The small gang glanced at each other, relief flooding through Jesse. Petra was still alive. Even if she hadn't been running for the portal, she was okay, the last time Ivor had seen.

"Such bravery..." Ivor mused. "Of course, there's a fine line between bravery and stupidity."

Jesse's expression hardened again, despite the fact that her heart was still insisting that she was in panic mode.

"And your friend has crossed it."

"Stop."

Ivor blinked at Jesse's comment. "What?"

The short girl gestured by flailing one arm, her face looking tight and pained and a little upset. "Stop– acting _slightly_ nice and then slingshotting back to being– being a jerk. I don't get it, and I'm already scared enough from being in a world that's composed literally of fire, I don't–" She choked, breath catching in her throat again as the heat clogged up her throat momentarily. "I don't need–"

"Oh, shoot, sorry, Jesse," and Axel wrapped his arms around Jesse in a gentle hug. (He would've squeezed, but that usually resulted in him squashing the breath right out of a person.) "We totally forgot about that."

Judging by the way Olivia and Lukas were now exchanging slightly awkward looks, they had the same sentiment.

Ivor simply regarded Jesse for a moment, and with it being dim, she _really_ couldn't tell what he was thinking. "Through that tunnel is a network of minecarts built by the Order of the Stone," he said at last, lifting his arm and pointing at a tunnel, "it's your only way out."

Everyone hesitated for a moment. "We should go that way," Axel agreed grudgingly, after a moment.

"Time's wasting. Let's go," Lukas nodded agreeingly with Axel's statement.

Jesse looked back at Ivor. "What about you?"

"What about me?" he replied.

"How will you get out of here?"

Ivor looked as if he was going to make a sarcastic remark, before pausing, as if catching himself, and simply shrugging. "I have my ways."

An odd sound, almost like a child making a sad sound, echoed through the air. The teenagers looked around for the source of the cry, not finding anything.

"What was that?" Axel wondered, frowning slightly.

The older man regarded the group with a blank expression for a moment, eyes flickering to Jesse. "I have a feeling that some of you won't need it... but good luck," he said at last, still looking at Jesse as he said that.

Jesse fidgeted a bit, unsure as to what he meant by that. Why had he been looking at her when he'd said that?

Ivor pulled out a potion and drank from it, swirls beginning to surround him as he drank the entire thing in a few gulps. He dropped the empty bottle to his side, beginning to glow– and then he was gone, the empty potion bottle clinking as it fell to the ground.

The little crying sound sounded again, this time from right behind them. Jesse, pretty sure she didn't want to know, slowly turned around to face the source of the sound– and letting out a gasp at the sight of a ghast, slowly opening its eyes to reveal red orbs in the place of normal eyes. It made another little sound, sounding much more annoyed now.

"Run?" Axel said, almost conversationally.

"Run," Olivia agreed, just as conversationally.

"RUN!" the entire group screamed, somehow in perfect unison– even Reuben let out a little squeal– and they all turned tail and started sprinting down the tunnel Ivor had indicated, the ghast still letting out angry cries as it began to give chase.

The entire group ran through the tunnel, the ghast occasionally letting out little angry cries to indicate how far behind them it was. In Jesse's peripheral vision, a pigman looked at her.

The entire group skidded to a stop at a little hill, where six minecarts sat on a set of tracks.

"This must be what Ivor was talking about!" Olivia exclaimed.

A cry– this time from far too close for comfort.

Jesse spun around to see the ghast drift into view behind them, spitting a fireball out of its mouth. Jesse let out a frightened squeak, Lukas seizing her by the wrist and dragging her sideways just in time to avoid the flaming ball of... whatever it was. The fireball detonated right above the minecarts, making debris sprinkle into them.

The entire group leaped down and ran towards the minecarts, Jesse vaulting into the second one, Reuben jumping into the first one, Lukas jumping into the one right behind Jesse, Olivia jumping into the one right behind that, with Axel leaping into the one at the back.

"Everyone hang on!" Jesse shouted, the minecarts slowly beginning to roll forward– before gaining speed and hurtling away, the ghast simply watching them go with a little cry.

Well, Jesse was still alive.

Though how much longer that would be the case was still a bit of a mystery.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm starting to think Jesse could surpass Makoto Naegi of Danganronpa as the Ultimate Lucky Student. xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **ItzJaiden: I'm glad you like it! Updating is... updating. xD**

 **LunarTheMooncake: pffff**

 **Toni42: Yeah, it was fun x3 / Yay xD / Well, there are some. / He'd be super super uncomfortable, but yeah, I imagine he'd be able to head into the Nether.**

 **TheAmberShadow: I did consider that, but I'd rather keep that for later. / (laughs) / Yep, there's the Nether, the Witherstorm's fireballs, Boom Town, another little incident later in the story, Ivor's lava house, Sky City after it's destroyed, the enchanted flint and steel, lava from the Games, FIRE from the Games, the Sunshine Institute, the Underneath, Beacontown after Romeo's, uh, renovations... and probably more that I'm forgetting. / (shrugs)**

 **homeworkoverload: Luck, yes. / (pats) / I do like that song too. x3**

 **So... last night, I told my crush I had a crush on him. And now we're dating. And I'm grinning even as I write this.**

 **Love you, Toni :3**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	15. The Most Terrifying Roller Coaster Ever

Jesse nearly jumped out of her skin every time the minecart turned a corner, sure that it was about to tip over by accident and dump her into the lava, where she'd undoubtedly die an extremely fiery, painful death.

Because even when not shooting over an ocean of boiling lava, they were travelling over ground that burned with numerous flames, or shooting past ghasts or Blazes, or– heaven forbid– passing within a hair's breadth of an open fire. At some points, Jesse actually actively had to lean away.

"Wow," Lukas said at last, his voice almost echoing in the empty space, "the Nether." From his tone, and the way he was looking around as if he'd never seen lava or fire before, he was like the Dead Enders and had never been to the Nether before.

Olivia peeped over the edge of her minecart timidly. "Yeah. That's a _lot_ of lava. And fire. And other things that could burn you to death."

"Don't remind me," Jesse mumbled, attempting to sound like she was jokily annoyed and instead managing to emulate a strangled cat.

Lukas winced at Jesse. "Oh man, yeah, after last year... how you holding up so far?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned for her well-being. "You doing okay?"

"Uh-huh. Yeah. I'm great." Her voice sounded faint even to _her_ , and she turned at the dubious silence that followed to see Lukas giving Olivia and Axel a backwards look of concern. His look of concern was reflected in her best friends' faces, and she cleared her throat and tried again. This time, her voice sounded a little less like she was completely terrified.

Progress is progress, I suppose.

"Okay, fine, I'm not _great_ , but I'm not dead _yet_ , right?"

Reuben chose the perfect time to let out a terrified squeal, making Jesse whip back around to the front– and pale a little bit. Her heartbeat, coincidentally, sped up.

Because in front of them, the track dropped down into an incredibly steep mountain of a drop, the bottom of the track not anywhere in sight. For all Jesse knew, the drop would plunge them right into the lava.

Okay, the Order _probably_ would not make a minecart system that would kill whoever rode it, but for all she knew it was some sort of intruder-prevention system and you had to go on a certain track to not die a very fiery death of lava.

Lukas let out a little squeak himself. "Oh, that's–" He cleared his throat, his voice having cracked into a high-pitched one that didn't sound anything like his regular voice, "that's a drop. That is very, _very_ much a drop."

"What are you talking about, new guy? What drooooOH crap! You weren't kidding!" Axel exclaimed, sounding startled.

"Hang on!" Jesse shouted, fingers curling tightly on the rim of her minecart, just before the minecart hit the drop and they rocketed towards the track below at a speed that is probably not safe for human travel in the best of circumstances, let alone when you're above an ocean of lava.

What felt like minutes but was probably only two seconds later, the minecarts jolted violently as they suddenly leveled out, making Jesse gasp a little as the minecarts rattled dangerously, the makeshift train shooting into a tunnel so fast that Jesse could've _sworn_ there was some g-force involved.

"DUCK!" Jesse yelled, even though she was super short and everyone could probably see the low wall hanging just above the minecart rims. They did as she commanded, all shrinking into their minecarts the best they could as the wall whipped by, making Jesse's hair flutter in the wind it generated. She tentatively poked her head back up–

"STAY DOWN!" she shouted again, and proceeded to pop back into the minecart like a human gopher or meerkat as another low wall shot past. There were no shouts of alarm or pain behind her, so she could only assume that they'd all stayed down like she'd asked.

When a few moments passed without any low walls passing, Jesse finally straightened back up, just as they exited the tunnel back over the sea of lava... to see that the track before them came to an abrupt stop at a lavafall.

Jesse's heart was now jackhammering against her chest so hard that it felt like someone was repeatedly punching her in the chest. Forcefully. At the speed of a moving train.

"Okay," and now even Axel sounded like he was struggling to keep from screaming hysterically, "so I'm not the only one that sees we're running out of track, right?"

"No," Lukas replied, shakily.

"Good!"

"Jesse, that switch!" Olivia shrieked, flailing one arm at Jesse frantically like she was trying to flag a taxi, "now! Do it!"

Swallowing so hard that she was fairly certain she'd just swallowed her uvula, Jesse tentatively leaned out of the cart, one arm stretching as far as she dared, her upper body starting to lean out over an ocean of lava... if she fell now, she'd definitely die...

Her hand slapped the switch, and the small girl let out a gasp of relief as she hauled herself back into the minecart, the carts screeching to a halt and jolting so badly that Jesse momentarily worried that she was going to get thrown out, before the carts began to descend. Jesse leaned over again, this time to see hundreds of pistons retracting in perfect sync and lowering them from the track.

Jesse let out a slightly hysterical giggle as she flopped back against the rim of her minecart. "Huh, wow! I thought something bad was going to happen there," she said, voice at least two octaves higher than it's normal pitch, but, heh, guess everything's gonna be– woah!" She was abruptly cut off as the carts abruptly started moving again, the carts splitting apart as the track split apart, jerking them aside with surprised shouts.

There was a loud shriek that sounded almost like a squeaky piston. Suspiciously, it faded away as soon as Axel was yanked by his track out of view and earshot.

And then suddenly Jesse was alone with Lukas.

Jesse blinked rapidly for a moment, before turning to face Lukas. "Should I be worried that we're gonna die now?" she asked, voice still two octaves higher than usual.

"Um–" Lukas cleared his throat again, looking slightly annoyed. His voice had just cracked into the higher-pitched voice again. "Probably not?"

"Ah, that's... that's comforting." Jesse's tone was faint as she tried to convince herself of this fact. (It should be noted that she was at her least convincing right about now, so that was not working.)

"Yeah." Lukas looked as if he wanted to say something else, looking at Jesse with the light of the lava below flickering and giving his face a spooky sort of underlighting, almost like he was a kid holding a flashlight under his face. He even opened his mouth a little bit, giving the smallest intake of breath, before pausing and then just shutting his mouth again, staring at Jesse uncertainly.

Jesse vaguely nodded, trying to calm her heartbeat to a slightly more regular pace and succeeding by the smallest amount, wondering what Lukas had been about to say. The eerie silence surrounding her so deafening that Jesse debated snapping her fingers to try to test if she'd suddenly gone deaf, except that she could still hear the minecarts rattling as they continued rushing down the track. "Well... least I'm not alone." And she gave the blonde a weak grin.

Lukas would probably have replied, except there was a sudden, terrified squeal, and Jesse and Lukas's heads snapped around to see Reuben's cart, a skeleton standing in the cart in front of him.

The carts she and Lukas were in suddenly spun on a small turn so that the tracks ran parallel to the one that Reuben was on, now within arm's reach. Jesse stood up in the cart, drawing her sword as she did so. "Hang on, Reuben!" she called to the little pink pig squealing as the skeleton aimed an arrow at him, at _her little pig_.

Lukas was giving her a look that, in the flickering lavalight, was a little hard to make out. Probably it was a disbelieving, annoyed, _are-you-absolutely-freaking-bonkers_ look. You're not supposed to stand up in a moving minecart. Minecarts 101.

Jesse whacked the skeleton with her sword, making the skeleton turn the arrow on Jesse instead. Before it could fire the arrow at her, however, Jesse lashed out with her sword again, hitting it with such force that it toppled backwards out of the cart and straight into the lava below, the bow still tight in its bony grip as the lava consumed it.

"Reuben!" the girl said happily, the pig oinking at her cheerfully in return and hopping into Lukas's lap. (Lukas looked surprised but pleased at this development.) "Okay, guys, remember how I said everything was going to be just fine before? I know I was wrong _then_ but I have a _very_ good feeling about this– WHOA!" Jesse shrieked as a ghast shot over their heads and turned around to face her, two more floating to its side and backing it up.

Lukas gaped at them. Then he turned to face Jesse. "I think your feeling was wrong."

"Don't have to tell me twice. DUCK!" Jesse shrieked as the center ghast spit a flaming sphere at her, and she dodged down and huddled into the minecart, shutting her eyes and waiting for the fireball to hit her. Lukas ducked down too–

–and then Jesse felt a weird, slingshot sort of feeling on her sword as the fireball hit the blade, rebounded, and flew back to hit the ghast, making it flash red.

Jesse glanced at the blade in her hand. Then at the ghasts. And then she stood up again, eyes hardening.

The center one shot another flaming ball of... whatever-it-was at her, but Jesse swung her sword almost like a baseball bat and knocked it back, making it rebound to hit the ghasts again. This time, it flashed and fell into the lava below, dead before it burst into smoke. The one on her left spit another fireball out at her, but Jesse hit this one with ease, before pivoting and batting away the one that the ghast on the right sent her way. Both followed the middle ghast's example and toppled into the lava below.

"That was impressive," Lukas said, a little breathlessly as he emerged from his minecart, eyes the size of teacup saucers as he goggled at her. "Terrifying, but– impressive."

"Yeah, uh, ghasts are _officially_ off my to-see list," Jesse agreed, plopping back into the minecart and seating herself again, "done with the ghasts. Never need to see them again ahhh crap."

The last two words were because she'd just spotted a ghast floating through a hole in a wall on the right that they were passing by.

The track, apparently deciding to torture them, promptly pivoted straight to the right, revealing that the set of tracks they were on went up and up... before running out entirely.

Lukas turned so pale that Jesse was starting to worry that if he got any paler, he'd be see-through. "Well... shi–"

His eyes flickered to Jesse automatically. "–ver me timbers and hoist the mainsail." He changed the swear so smoothly that if Jesse hadn't noticed the way his clear blue eyes had flicked to Jesse and widened slightly just a moment ago, she would've thought that was what he was going to say in the first place.

Jesse blinked at Lukas, eyes flicking from the staring ghast to Lukas. The ghast to make sure it didn't give her some sort of sneak attack, Lukas to make eye contact with him and let him know that she was being serious. "You do know that I'm fine with cursing, right? Axel curses, like, once a week."

"Well, in that case, _s**t_!"

Jesse would've laughed at that, except her heart was fluttering at the speed of light in her chest, and the ghast that had been staring at them now had red orbs for eyes as it spat a fireball at them. At the speed they were going, and the speed the fireball was going, though, it wouldn't hit Jesse's cart...

Lukas's eyes widened, and he picked a now frantically-squealing Reuben up, stood up– Jesse, her mind having been racing as fast as her heart, realized what he was doing and stood up herself–

– the blonde jumped into her cart and knocked the three of them back into a sitting position, Jesse practically perched in the blonde's lap now, just as the fireball plowed into the cart behind hers. The cart let out a screech as it was wrenched from the cart it was connected to, doing a flip before falling into lava.

"Sorry, Lukas, now you have no room," Jesse apologized, trying to shift so that she wasn't sitting on his lap. Because that, uh... that was really awkward.

"No, it's fine." Lukas was attempting to shift as well, his cheeks finally growing red from the heat– it probably didn't help that he was wearing a leather jacket– and the two of them managed to end up with both of them sitting on their heels with Reuben sandwiched in between Jesse and the front of the minecart.

The minecart abruptly pivoted again and began travelling _up the track that ran out._

"This is bad, this is bad, this is _BAD!_ " Jesse screamed, just as the minecart flew right off the tracks and into open air, right past the ghast's face. It slowly watched as they flew past, time seeming to slow down as the ghast came within arm's reach. Lukas could've reached out and touched it if he'd wanted, but he was gripping the sides of the minecarts so tightly his knuckles had turned pure white, Jesse had one arm squeezing the life out of Reuben, and her free hand was clinging for dear life to the front rim of the minecart.

Gravity slowly took ahold of the cart again, and the cart plummeted for a short stretch before slamming back down onto more tracks and ramming straight into the one in front of them, with such force that the connectors engaged.

Olivia and Axel both pivoted in perfect unison to look at them.

For a few moments, there was utter silence as Axel and Olivia stared at them and Lukas, Jesse, and Reuben stared back. Finally, Jesse gave a little gasp, heart still jackhammering away. Thankfully, at the moment they weren't over any lava or near any fire, so it was at least at a more manageable pace than before. Otherwise Jesse would've been a little worried that her heart was going to explode. "Is..." she let out a shaky little exhale. At least they were still alive. "Is everyone okay?"

There was a short pause.

"I mean, I'm not _dead_ ," Axel said at last, turning back around to face the front. "I guess that's pretty good."

"Ditto," and Olivia gave an almost distracted nod. "Ditto on the not dead."

"I just can't believe Petra comes down here all the time," Lukas breathed, looking visibly shaken. Actually, now that Jesse was right up against him, his face was pale in the firelight, his hair was messy and starting to stick up in odd areas, and his left hand was shoved so deep into his left pocket that it looked almost like he was going to rip the very fabric of said pocket. She'd never seen Lukas so... not put-together.

After a few moments, Lukas let out a chuckle. "Your throat's gonna be sore later, Axel," he informed the burly boy, lips forming into a trembly smile as he tried to calm himself down.

"Why?"

"I'm just saying," and Lukas was now giving a little smile that didn't look like it was going to fall off his face after a few seconds, "wasn't that you doing all that screaming before? Sounded like you were really shredding your larynx."

Olivia twisted to see Lukas, eyes slightly wide as a nervous little smile came over her own face. "Oh yeah. I heard that too. Really high-pitched? Kind of like a squeaky piston?"

So that _had_ been Axel.

"What?" the burly boy muttered grouchily from where he was at the front, refusing to face them. "No. Shut up."

Lukas let out a little chuckle. "Never mind. Must've been something else," he replied, although he was still grinning broadly at the little joke.

Jesse finally regained her voice, speaking in a tone that was so casual that you'd never know that her heart was currently beating in overdrive. "You know those experiences that people have that they... y'know, remember and reminisce upon for the rest of their lives?"

"Yeah?" Axel asked, sounding almost confused.

Jesse's voice became dead serious as she said the next part, her grip slowly loosening on Reuben so that she didn't squeeze the life out of him. (Her little pig let out a grateful oink.) "This? This isn't one of those. Let's never talk about this ever again."

"I vote aye on that plan," Lukas said.

"I'm fine with that." Olivia's voice sounded a little weaker than usual, but the redstone-engineer-in-training definitely didn't seem as scared as Jesse felt. Or as Lukas looked. I mean, really. He looked a hot mess right about now.

"Yeah, I'm down, too," Axel agreed.

The minecarts rattled on.

* * *

 **A/N: Whoof, this chapter's done! Very happy about that.**

 **I'm currently working on three projects other than fanfiction. One is a secret until Valentine's Day– it's my gift to Toni– two is Phantasmagoria, which has been renamed Phantasmata because reasons, and three is a different thing that I'm kinda excited to start.**

 **Don't worry, I'll still upload fanfiction chapters. Just at a slightly slower pace than normal, I guess. x3**

 **Well, they've survived the Nether so far, with... very few instances of Jesse's blood pressure going through the roof, surprisingly. (Probably a bit distracted from the minecart ride.)**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **LunarTheMooncake: (laughs) It's fine. And yes, he is being nice!**

 **NoItsBecky: (pats) / Right? I would've died LONG before this point. xD**

 **homeworkoverload: Nyaaaah x3 / Who cares? Just ask. xD / Lol, nice!**

 **Princess of Muffins: Surprisingly you are not the only person to comment that so far, I think someone else also said that when Toni announced it on Movie Mode. xD / Hehehe / Aw, thanks, I think xD Apparently everybody else knew the ship was serious before we did xD / LOL / Ooh, nice! And yes, she's very fearful. / Ivor is... Ivor. (That's all I can really say right now to be honest xD)**

 **EllieRose27: Thanks! / (pats)**

 **AquaK13: haha, truuue. / She's got more luck than the Ultimate Lucky Student at this point– whether that be Komaeda or Naegi– so she should be fine. xD / Jesse's worried she'll probably lose your ring, but she appreciates the sentiment x3 / Thank you :3 / (laughs)**

 **Emily The Avenger: toniza**

 **TheAmberShadow: Yes. Actually, that is the reason I picked the Tin Soldier. There's so much fire in almost every episode that it's actually hilarious. xD / Well, at the rate I'm going, I think we find out in... yeah, we find out either next chapter or the chapter after. / (snorts) / Hehehe, true!**

 **Toni42: x3 / Yeah, I was just like "what curse do I give Jesse" and the Tin Soldier fit her personality, so I picked it... and then I realized just how much fire there is throughout the entire series, so I was like "Yep, we're going with this and torturing Jesse. Sorry Jesse." xD / Awww, I love you too :3 / Ye!**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	16. A Little Too Far

"Can you throw up... like... inside your body?" Jesse asked, grimacing a little as she clambered out of her minecart with slightly wobbly legs. Lukas was stretching and rubbing his fallen-asleep leg from where he was still inside the minecart. Judging by the slightly green tinge to his face, he was wondering the same thing.

"Uh huh. I know, because I just did. About five times," Olivia replied flatly, as she walked towards a small staircase that was near where the minecart had come to a halt. Jesse followed once her legs felt less like they were emulating a bowl of jelly, and the soft sounds of footsteps behind her– and a slightly louder series of footsteps behind _that_ – told the short girl that the other two were following her.

Her breath was practically taken away as they reached the top of the staircase, stepping onto a platform with archways looping above it beautifully. Dozens of minecart tracks led to and from it– maybe even _hundreds_. "Wow," she said softly, "look at this place!"

"All of these tracks converge at _this_ point," the dark-skinned girl murmured as she looked around the platform with shining, fascinated eyes. Call them nerds, but neither girl could help being fascinated by the amount of redstone and _work_ that this network must've taken. "You could probably get anywhere in the _world_ from here."

Reuben let out a squeal and galloped over to a glowing, purple veil surrounded by an arch of obsidian. "There's the portal!" Jesse exclaimed, and walked over to it– running was currently a little much to be asking of her poor legs– the others following suit and gathering around it.

"That's our way out," Axel declared, boldly walking towards the portal.

"It must lead back to the surface," Olivia murmured thoughtfully.

Lukas frowned suddenly. "The surface is also where that _creature_ is." Jesse noticed that he didn't call it a Wither– it was hard to imagine that living storm, with writhing tentacles and piercing, glowing indigo eyes and carnivorous, animalistic teeth as a Wither.

Axel abruptly came to a stop at that.

"He's right," Jesse said softly, frowning and reaching up to press her lips. "We have no idea what we're walking into. It could be dangerous."

The silence was deafening, and the heat– which had seemed to be left behind in the sharp turns and rushing wind of the minecarts travelling– crept back in the time that it took for Axel to slowly turn back towards the portal, reluctance practically radiating up his spine as he stared at the glowing purple veil of light in the doorway.

"Thanks for being so brave, Axel," Lukas said to the burly boy, voice quavering a bit as the words echoed in the firelit cavern.

"Alright." Axel swallowed. "I'm gonna go. I'm going. I'm going right now."

He didn't move a centimeter, eyes flicking back to the rest of the group anxiously. "Like... right... right now." His voice cracked a little bit.

"How about I go first?" Jesse finally suggested after a few moments, the silence stretching out for several seconds– long enough for Olivia to start fidgeting and for Lukas to give a fake cough.

"That's not what I was saying," Axel retorted, but as he turned to Jesse his relief was clearly written out in his face.

"I'm the only one with a sword– it's just safer," Jesse pointed out, deciding not to point out the fact that Axel was clearly frightened to go first. She didn't want to mention that a sword wasn't going to do anything against that Witherstorm.

"Well, if you absolutely insist." And Axel backed away, looking all too relieved that Jesse was going first.

The petite girl took Axel's place, coming to a stop just in front of the swirling, glowing purple doorway just in front of her, before turning to face the others. "Well... see you guys on the other side, I guess."

"Be careful," Olivia said softly, concern dancing in her eyes.

"Thanks, Jesse."

Jesse gave them a smile, turned back around, and strolled forwards, the portal tingling and making her skin feel odd as the feeling of perpetual heat disappeared.

She let out a silent sigh of relief.

Stepping through the portal, she felt even more relief– if not some slight confusion– when she walked forward and immediately felt cold water flood into her shoes, soaking her overalls up to her knees. She looked down to see that she was now standing knee-deep in a pool of water, with a small waterfall flowing into the pool and creating two other waterfalls that flowed over the edge of the pool.

Jesse waded deeper into the pool, letting out a more audible sigh of relief to herself. "At least there's no chance of me catching on fire now," she mumbled to herself, kicking up a small spray of water.

And then hearing a groan.

Jesse twisted to see a zombie lurching towards her, undead hands groping to seize her.

Drawing her sword quickly, Jesse hammered two blows into the zombie's head quickly and dispatched it in seconds. "Nope. Done with this. Don't need this. Nearly burned to death earlier. Don't need you contributing to the 'Kill Jesse' campaign the rest of the world's apparently got going."

Axel stepped through the portal literally a half-second after she said that, blinking when he saw Jesse had her sword out.

"There was a zombie," Jesse said as way of explanation, sheathing her sword as Axel stepped into the pool of water. Being as tall as he was, the water barely came up to only about three inches above his ankles.

"Oh." Axel paused, looking around as if he might spot it. "Is it dead?" He paused again. "I mean... y'know, dead-dead?"

"Yep." With that very eloquent response, Jesse stepped up a flight of steps, feeling water squish in her shoes as she emerged from the water. Axel followed, Olivia emerging through the portal a moment later with the sound of flitting sparks.

"Where are we?" Olivia wondered, as she too climbed out of the pool of water and gave her boots an absentminded shake– Jesse was pretty sure they'd just filled with water.

"In the dark." Jesse's green eyes scanned the landscape for anything familiar and came up with nothing. Some trees... a cliff... but nothing familiar. "In the middle of nowhere."

Lukas glanced around anxiously, one hand reaching a little deeper into his pocket. "Maybe we should bed down for the night," he said, as Reuben snuffled and looked around. "It's dangerous to be out when it's this dark."

"Thought we were headed towards a temple," Axel responded, almost belligerently.

Olivia shrugged. "We're looking for a giant building. It should be pretty obvious."

"Ivor said–"

Axel cut Lukas off before the guy could get any further than that. "Ohh, ' _Ivor said_ '." He mimicked the comment Lukas had just made mockingly. "Well, then maybe this is the temple," he finished, sarcastically.

"Axel, c'mon," Olivia said, frowning at the burly boy.

Jesse could sense that the conversation was turning into some turbulent waters. She decided to change the subject. "We have to build a shelter," she interrupted, before anybody could start arguing and attract the attention of every monster within a twenty mile radius.

Lukas blinked. "I... thought that was what I said, but... uh..."

"You're right," Olivia decided to follow Jesse's change of subject, practically jumping on ship with Jesse almost gratefully. "We should hurry. I say we build a treehouse–"

"That'll take forever," Axel interrupted, "and we'll be exposed while we do it. We just need a quick and dirty hut."

"Look, whatever it is," Lukas cut in, "we gotta do it fast."

Absolute silence crept over them at that. Olivia put a hand on her hip while Axel crossed his arms and glared at the Ocelot. Lukas frowned a little at the glare, looking confused. "What?"

"In a hut," Olivia once again changed subject at the speed of light, turning back to Axel, "we won't know what's coming until it's knocking on our door."

"A treehouse is going to be spider town. I hate spiders."

"Why don't we just build a hut without a door and just leave a hole higher up so we can tell when day is? We can just break through the wall in the morning," Jesse pointed out. "And a treehouse will take a little too long for safety."

There was a pause at that. Finally, Olivia nodded grudgingly. "Fine. That seems like it could work."

* * *

It seemed almost like a matter of minutes until the hut, with a single hole near the top to give them an indication of the time, was finished, the whole group sitting around a small fire that Olivia had borrowed Jesse's flint and steel to make. It was surrounded by stone to avoid anyone catching on fire– Olivia's eyes had lingered on Jesse for a moment longer than everyone else when she said 'anyone'– and they were all sitting around the fire.

Well, Olivia was sitting next to it. Axel was standing near it, Lukas was in a corner by himself and hugging himself, and Jesse was far enough away from the fire that there was no chance of her catching on fire, but still close enough to get some warmth from it.

The silence in the hut was so deafening that Jesse had pulled out the fairytale book that she'd... er... _borrowed_ from Ivor and was honestly debating reading it. Sure, she was sick and tired of fairytales after all of her research on her curse... but it was _so_ quiet in here right now.

"What's that?"

Jesse almost jumped a bit at the sound of Olivia's curious voice, but she didn't. She just looked up from the nondescript, thick-but-small book. "It's a book of fairytales I grabbed back in Ivor's basement. I was curious, and, well..."

She could see Lukas looking at her intently now, out of the corner of her eye, but she decided to ignore that for now and focus on, well, her book.

"Oh man!" Axel suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" Olivia asked, voice filled with trepidation.

"I'm going to tell you something," Axel said, his back facing the group. "But you have to _promise_ not to freak out."

Jesse's glass heart, nestled safely in the pocket at her chest, began to beat a little quicker. "What is it?" she asked, anxiously.

Axel turned to face them. "I..." And he reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of cookies. "Have _cookies_."

With absolutely impeccable timing, Jesse's stomach growled.

"One for me." He wiggled one cookie to emphasize his point, before going over to Olivia. "One for Olivia." The dark-skinned girl grinned at that and took the cookie with a grateful smile on her face. "One for Jesse." He handed another one to Jesse.

"Thanks, Axel," Jesse said with gratitude in her voice. She was about to eat the cookie, but stopped when she glanced over and made eye contact with Lukas. The blonde quickly averted his eyes.

"And one for Reuben." Axel placed the last cookie at Reuben's feet, the pig snuffling and looking at it dubiously. "Sorry, Lukas," Axel 'apologized'– Jesse could hear some insincerity in his voice, "I only have four."

"Oh, no, it's... it's all right. I'm not that hungry anyway."

Lukas's stomach, like Jesse's, picked the perfect time to give a roar so loud that Jesse honestly thought there was a lion outside the hut for a second. The blonde stopped and looked at his stomach for a second, a little awkwardly, before saying, awkwardness reflecting in his voice, "I'll... just... grab something in the morning. Or something."

The black-haired girl didn't even hesitate– she stood up, being careful to keep the cookie away from the floor, and walked over to Lukas, who blinked at her in slight confusion. She extended it. "Take it."

Lukas's eyes widened. "Oh– no, no, I– I can't do that–"

Jesse pushed the cookie into Lukas's hand as the blonde stammered. "I insist."

Lukas opened his mouth to say something– hesitated– and then gave Jesse a mixed look. One of gratitude, and one of that emotion that Jesse couldn't quite identify. "Thanks, Jesse." And the blonde began to eat the cookie, Jesse giving him a smile in return and sitting back down next to Reuben, who was eating his cookie with a reluctant expression on his face.

"That was for you, Jesse," Axel protested. "Not him."

Jesse simply looked at Axel for a moment, before simply looking back down at her book. Reuben snuffled and butted his nose against her leg, having finished his cookie a moment ago.

Deciding to open the book– why not– Jesse opened it to the Table of Contents and scanned the titles. Cinderella, Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Snow White, the Pied Piper of Hamelin, the Snow Queen, The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan...

Absentmindedly, Jesse flipped open to a random page and found herself on The Little Mermaid. She'd always liked this story, although she'd never really liked the ending, sad as it was. The little mermaid can't bring herself to hurt the one she loved, even after he was married and she would die if she didn't, so she turned to sea foam the next morning.

But she wasn't looking at the story anymore, she was now looking at multiple little notes and scribbles in the margins of the story in sharp, almost overlapping scratches of ink. Jesse lifted the book and took a closer look at it, squinting at the writing intently.

' _The Little Mermaid - possibly a cat. curse?_ '

' _Save someone but they don't know_ '

' _Thinks someone else save them_ '

Jesse turned the pages, confusion mounting a little bit as she continued reading the spiky, impatient handwriting.

' _The person they love/save falls in love with someone else?_ '

Jesse abruptly realized that the notes in the margins was about The Fairytale Curse– specifically, the Little Mermaid strain. And this was in Ivor's library, so... was this Ivor's handwriting?

She frowned. Did Ivor have the Fairytale Curse? Or study it?

"If you had to," Olivia suddenly spoke, making Jesse look up from her book in slight surprise. "Which would you rather fight: a hundred chicken-sized zombies, or ten zombie-sized chickens?"

Recognizing the question from the one Olivia had asked her earlier today– was it really only today? It felt like such a long time ago– Jesse chuckled and gave Lukas a small smile. "Choose wisely."

Lukas's lips curved up into a small smile, and he chuckled a little himself. "Uh, that's a good one... let me think..."

"How can you guys joke around at a time like this?" Axel burst out suddenly, almost in disbelief, "Petra's still out there. She's all by herself. There's nothing funny about that."

"Petra wouldn't mind at all," Jesse replied immediately.

She was momentarily taken aback at her own lack of hesitation, but she really believed– could almost feel– that Petra wouldn't care if she were here. "She'd want us to keep our spirits up."

Axel hesitated. "If I were her, I'd... I dunno." His face deepened into a frown. "It feels wrong."

"Fine, then," Lukas said, smile gone, "we should probably get some rest. We gotta start looking for this temple as early as we can. Now, um," he stood up, Jesse's eyes travelling to him, "my guess is, if we start at the portal, and kind of split up–"

Axel's gaze hardened into a glare. "Whoa, what are you doing?"

Jesse was slightly taken aback by the sudden amount of venom in Axel's voice. She looked at Olivia, who looked even more taken aback, if that was possible, and then at Lukas– but there was no surprise in his face. Just irritation.

"Did I do something to you?" Lukas asked impatiently. "I'd _really_ like to know. You keep getting on my case for what seems like no reason."

"He's just trying to help," Jesse agreed quickly. Because his tone hadn't been manipulative or crafty or rude at all, it had been genuinely helpful and as if he was offering a suggestion.

Lukas glanced at Jesse, his eyebrows rising in surprise for a moment– before he looked back at Axel, gesturing at Jesse. "See?"

"Sorry, Jesse." Axel crossed his arms, his glare deepening as he stared right at Lukas. "I'm not gonna sit here and listen to this guy telling us what's what."

"I'm just trying to get ready for tomorrow," Lukas replied, matching Axel's glare and crossing his arms as he stared at Axel, even though that wasn't going to help at all, even though that was probably going to exasperate the situation even further.

Jesse was proven right when Axel shot back, "You're the only one wearing that stupid jacket." Lukas's blue eyes widened as his eyes flicked to his jacket. "Don't tell us what to do."

A flash of rage filled Lukas's eyes, and he stepped forward, his usually calm voice now trembling with rage. "Take. That. Back," he spoke through gritted teeth, vocal cords hardening to steel.

"Can't. Wouldn't."

"You know what," Lukas snapped, losing his temper, "I get to wear this jacket because I know how to build. But that doesn't mean that I don't know how to _break_ things."

"Your threats don't scare me, now that we know how you _really_ are."

Jesse and Olivia's heads were both swiveling back and forth as if they were watching a soap opera.

"Jesse, your friend is way out of line!" Lukas turned to Jesse, blue eyes flashing with anger. "I wasn't going to say anything, but I can only take so much."

"Let's just drop it," Jesse replied calmly.

Axel glared at Lukas. "Don't be like that, Jesse."

Jesse decided to make herself crystal clear, climbing to her feet as well. "Just. Drop. It," she repeated, emphasizing each word with such force that Lukas actually stepped back a little, blinking in surprise.

Instead, Axel turned to the blonde with a cold expression on his face. "Haven't you done enough damage for one day?" And he gave Lukas such a forceful shove that the blonde staggered and fell to the ground, something slipping out of his pocket and falling at Jesse's feet as he landed. "Petra might be _dead_ because of you."

Jesse clapped her hands to her mouth with an alarmed gasp.

"You're taking this too far, Axel!" Olivia exclaimed, startled.

Lukas didn't say anything, his shoulders beginning to tremble from where he was kneeling on the ground, hands and knees pressed into the dirt floor.

Jesse looked at the item at her feet. It was an ocelot plushie, with green beads for eyes and fluffy gold fur with darker circles decorating it. She bent down and picked it up, turning it over in her hands to get a better look at it, the fluffy tail flopping over in her hands. She was pretty sure it was her imagination, but the plushie ocelot was looking at her.

Then, in a perfect imitation of Lukas's voice, the ocelot said, "Hello."

* * *

 **A/N: Cliffhanger!**

 **Haha, sorry. You should know me by now, I do stuff this way.**

 **I was blatantly obvious about which curse Lukas has, but if it wasn't already obvious to you somehow, it'll be clear next chapter.**

 **Okay, I'm going to cut off any person in the future who says "this is blatant Lukesse" and just say–**

 **"Wait for the next chapter."**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **LunarTheMooncake: Yeeep~**

 **EllieRose27: Lol**

 **TheAmberShadow: (chuckles) / Ahaha, I know, right? / Lol xD / Hehe xD**

 **homeworkoverload: Where did I say that? Could you please explain what you mean? / (pats) / (laughs) I've done the same thing a couple times.**

 **That's all for now! (Wow, so few reviews.) See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	17. Double Whammy

Jesse let out a startled yelp and dropped the stuffed ocelot.

"Ouch!" the toy exclaimed, this time in a much higher-pitched voice. Jesse recognized it- it was the voice that had Lukas's had occasionally cracked into, back in the Nether.

Lukas let out a shaky breath and reached out, taking ahold of the toy, which started vibrating when he took ahold of it but said nothing about it, even though it was vibrating so much that it was actually starting to blur. Jesse was confused as to why– was it like a massage toy or something?– and then she saw that Lukas's hands seemed to be trembling.

His hands were shaking.

Badly.

Why was he shaking so much?

"Uhh, Lukas?" Olivia asked, her voice growing a little high pitched as she stared at the plushie ocelot in his hands. "What is that thing exactly?"

"You can ask me directly, y'know," the toy squeaked, now in a high-pitched voice.

Lukas let out a sigh and reached up, pinching the toy ocelot's face with two fingers and making it squeak in protest as he slowly set it on his shoulder, muffling its voice. "I... guess there's not much point in trying to hide it anymore, huh?"

"Hide what?" Axel's voice, unfortunately, wasn't even the slightest bit welcoming. His face was set in an angry expression, and his burly arms were crossed in an almost threatening way. That probably didn't help the fact that Lukas was flushed, his eyes were downcast, and even in the dimness of the flames, he was clearly about to cry.

Lukas let out a tired sigh, running a hand through his blonde hair and mussing it up even more than usual. Slowly, he raised his eyes to meet everyone else's, face filled with a strange sort of fear. "I... I have the Fairytale Curse."

There was absolute silence in response to that. Lukas slowly lowered his eyes back to the ground, staring at the fire as if it were the most mesmerizing thing in the world. The ocelot plushie on his shoulder shifted a little and nudged Lukas with its little bead nose, in an almost encouraging way.

"You... what?" Olivia asked slowly.

Jesse was glad Olivia had said it and not her. Knowing her, she would've just said it in the rudest way possible and offended him or hurt his feelings.

"I, um... I have the Fairytale Curse. It's the Little Mermaid strain," Lukas said quietly, still staring at the fire intently. "I... I can't... talk."

"Dude, what are you talking about?" Axel at least no longer sounded hostile. Just completely confused. "You're talking to us right now."

Something clicked in Jesse's mind suddenly. It was a bit of a sudden realization, but the ocelot sitting on his shoulder confirmed it.

She pointed at him. " _That's_ what's been off about you for a while!" she exclaimed, a bit loudly because, okay, can I just say this, the ocelot plushie talking in _Lukas's_ voice was a little weird and she was just so startled.

Olivia started at the sudden exclamation, while Axel looked at Jesse in slight confusion when she just randomly blurted it out. Jesse felt her face turn pink as she realized that everyone was staring at her, but pressed on anyways. "Your voice hasn't been coming from your mouth or your chest for a while. It's been coming from your left jacket pocket!"

Lukas blinked at Jesse, before a tired sort of smile crossed his face. "Um... yeah."

He took a deep breath, his shoulders rising and then falling as he inhaled and then slowly exhaled, lifting his head and leaning back against the dirt wall. His face was set with determination. "I think you guys deserve to know this. After..." His eyes flicked to Jesse automatically. "... last year..."

Jesse winced as the reminder of the danger of fire crept back into her mind. But she didn't see what that had to do with right now, this instant.

"And after the whole fiasco earlier..." Lukas trailed off, as if he wasn't sure how to continue. "Well... I think you guys deserve to know," he finally repeated, the blonde's eyes flicking around the entire group nervously.

There was a full minute of silence, the only sound in the dirt hut of fire crackling and of zombies and spiders making their respective sounds outside.

Lukas finally picked back up. "Like I said, I have the Little Mermaid curse. The Little Mermaid curse... well, it prevents the victim from speaking. I can move my mouth, but... I don't know, the voice is just gone. That's... why I have Sebby."

He reached up and gently touched the ocelot plush on his shoulder. "Sebby– or, uh, I guess his full name is technically Sebastian, but I'm used to calling him Sebby by now– Sebby was given to me by the witch who cursed me. As long as Sebby's within... I think 4 feet of me, he can talk for me, and sometimes to me." A tiny ghost of smile flitted across his face. "Any further and he's just a plush toy."

Jesse had to wonder why the witch had given him the plush if she'd cursed him in the first place. Logically, if she'd cursed him, she was pissed at him and didn't want him to have an easier time at all.

"Yeah, Lukas talks to me a lot," the ocelot plushie, or, well, Sebby squeaked, cheerfully. "He tells me lotsa secrets, too. Like, he was talking about last year, with your–" The ocelot plushie looked in Jesse's direction, so he was definitely addressing her. "– accident, and–"

Lukas made a little sound of alarm and reached up, pinching the ocelot's face. It let out an indignant squeak, but Jesse had already heard the comment. Swallowing back a lump in her throat– after all, being reminded of imminent death is never very fun– she said, in a falsely mild voice, "How's that a secret? Everyone knows about it. Aiden even started calling me Coal after that."

Everyone in the immediate vicinity flinched at that as well.

"Well, no, the _accident_ itself isn't the secret," Olivia suddenly spoke up, making Jesse swivel her head to look at her dark-skinned best friend in surprise.

Olivia shrugged at the panicked and almost betrayed look on Lukas's face when she spotted it. "It's not that big of a deal, Lukas. I'm honestly not sure why you made it out to be such a big deal in the first place."

"What's not a big deal? What are you guys talking about?" Jesse asked, completely bewildered.

This was beginning to remind her of the one time that she'd gotten a huge burn mark on the stomach of her overalls by over-ironing it and she hadn't known about it until Olivia had finally met up with her and pointed it out. People whispering, asking her if she was okay, talking about the mark as if Jesse wasn't there. Basically, she'd been completely out of the loop.

She hadn't much liked it then, and she didn't like it very much right now.

Lukas sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It's nothing." With that, he shot Olivia such a sharp look that the dark-haired girl subsided, giving him an uncertain look.

"Doesn't sound like nothing," Jesse said, looking at Olivia for backup. But now Olivia's mouth was clamped shut, too, so Jesse looked over at Axel. The burly boy looked a bit uncomfortable at Jesse's searching gaze, averting his eyes to the floor.

With that, Jesse decided to change the subject. "Well, why'd you get cursed, anyway? I thought witches only cursed people if they didn't like them, or to punish them for bad behavior or whatever."

Lukas kept his eyes fixed on the fire, his mouth clamped tightly shut.

"Oh for pity's sake. Well, you know your accident?" Sebby asked, now that Lukas was no longer actively pinching the plush's face, speaking quickly. "Well, you fell in a campfire and nearly burned to death–"

Jesse winced at that.

"And then you were saved by–" Sebby was once again rather rudely cut off as Lukas frantically flung his hand up and pinched Sebby's face again, making the ocelot plush squeak indignantly under the pressure of Lukas's fingers.

"Axel and Olivia. I know that already," Jesse replied, slightly bewildered by the plush bringing it up. "What does that have to do with Lukas getting cursed?"

"Well..." Axel, to Jesse's slight surprise, was the one to speak up now, scratching the back of his neck as he considered his words carefully. "Actually, we... weren't actually the ones to get you out of there. I mean, we _helped_ , but..."

Olivia picked up the end of that sentence, looking at Jesse strangely. "We weren't the ones who directly pulled you out of the fire."

Jesse stood very still for a moment, blinking in confusion. Ivor's book of fairytales was still in her hand, dangling loosely at her side as she stared blankly at her two friends, her best friends, two people that she trusted with her life, even without that... _incident_ last year.

Two people who were now telling her that _they_ hadn't been the ones to save her.

"Wait... you're not?" Jesse felt like a little kid again.

She felt the way she had when she'd overheard Aiden– who she'd actually used to be decent friends with, though you wouldn't be able to tell from the way they treated each other now– telling his new friends that he only hung out with her because he felt sorry for her. Because his parents made him, made him play with the little girl who sat around in her backyard reading fairytales when everyone _knew_ that they were scary, that they could be twisted into a curse.

A little betrayed. Scared. But mostly confused.

 _Definitely_ confused.

In response to Jesse's almost hollow question, her two best friends gave a single, almost lonely shake of their heads.

 _No_.

"Then, who...?"

Strange looks whenever she mentioned it.

' _Saves someone, but they don't know._ '

A blonde boy sitting in the hospital room without a word, even though his friends hated her guts.

' _Thinks someone else saved them._ '

Jesse slowly turned her head. She didn't feel like she was the one moving. For all she knew, someone else was currently steering her and positioning her like a doll, and she wouldn't have even noticed.

Lukas lifted his eyes from the fire and gave her a weak smile.

"Lukas?" Jesse's voice didn't come out as normal as she would've hoped it would. It came out as a whisper, a soft, hushed sound that was almost inaudible over the crackling of the fire and the deafening silence in the room, muffling everything, stifling everything, smothering everything until all Jesse could hear were the confused whispers in her ears.

"... yeah."

"... oh."

Jesse looked at the ground for a moment, trying to collect herself, confusion still running so rampant in her mind that she actually kind of wanted to knock herself out– at least this growing headache would stop forming if she did.

But all she could think of was Lukas's fairytale, the fairytale that connected directly to his curse. Snatches and bits and pieces that floated around in her memory, that she knew was going to be in the book if she read the story again.

 _His wedding morning would bring death to her, and she would change into the foam of the sea._

 _"See, it is a sharp knife."_

 _"Before the sun rises you must plunge it into the heart of the prince; when the warm blood falls upon your feet they will grow together again, and form into a fish's tail, and you will be once more a mermaid, and you will not die."_

 _And the little mermaid leaped into the waves far below and dissolved into sea foam._

 _'The person they love/save falls in love with someone else.'_

Jesse frowned. "You're not going to die, are you?" she asked abruptly, looking up at the blonde. His blonde hair reflected the firelight slightly.

He blinked, seemingly confused. "No. Why?"

"Because in the original story, the little mermaid dies. She changes to sea foam at the end. So you won't... you won't _die_ , right?" Jesse asked, slowly, tasting each word carefully as they formed in her mouth and tumbled from her lips. They tasted bitter. Frightening.

Lukas met her eyes for a solid minute, some weird emotion flickering in his eyes– it wasn't the one she'd seen before, it was a different one– before averting his eyes to the fire again. "No. It should be different."

Olivia frowned. "I dunno... from what I've heard, Fairytale Curses stick pretty close to the story they're based on."

Jesse's glass heart picked up the beat again, practically _begging_ for Jesse's curse to be found out.

Olivia continued, crossing her arms and adjusting the goggles on her green beanie thoughtfully. "So if the little mermaid _dies_ in the original story, then..."

Lukas sighed, still staring at the fire. "No; the witch who cursed me said it was different."

"... well, I guess that makes sense," Jesse said at last, scratching her cheek. "I mean, in the original fairytale, the little mermaid _loved_ the prince, but you don't love me or anything. So I guess it makes sense that it'd be different."

Lukas inhaled a bit– his breath catching in his throat– before exhaling, giving a slight shrug. "Yeah, I figured that was why it was different."

"Ah. Okay."

Wow. Paragon of eloquence. Good job, Jesse.

She still wasn't sure what him saving her had to do with him being cursed... but with the information overload she'd just received, she was a little wary about continuing to ask. She was pretty sure her head would explode if she asked, and Lukas was keeping his mouth safely clamped shut, so it was probably safe to assume that he wasn't going to be willingly divulging that information.

The black-haired girl looked at the book in her hand when the silence in the room grew to the point where it was deafening and almost smothering. Her thumb was still keeping the pages of The Little Mermaid open, so she lifted the book and flipped back to the pages of the Table of Contents.

She didn't really know what she was doing; she just didn't want the silence to keep growing and growing until the point where it was smothering everything, even the air she was breathing and the way Lukas was staring at the fire intently.

Without really thinking about it, she flipped to Goldilocks and the Three Bears– she'd always liked that story, and it had a pretty cute moral and ending.

There were notes in the margins but she decided to ignore it, focusing her eyes on the dark text of the story.

"Once upon a time, there lived three bears in a cottage in the forest," Jesse started reading, drawing all eyes to her. "These three bears were in a family. There was Papa Bear, who was the grouchiest bear in the group. Then there was Mama Bear, who was kind and sweet and just like a mother should be. And then there was Baby Bear, who just liked to play all day."

The only sound in the hut was the sound of Jesse reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears, her eyes occasionally straying to the notes in the margins. There were surprisingly few of them– and most of them ended in question marks.

Now that Jesse thought about it, she was quite certain she'd heard almost no cases of _that_ strain of the curse reported. Maybe there just wasn't enough information about it.

Several minutes passed, and Jesse eventually realized she had moved back into a sitting position, a safe distance from the fire, while Axel leaned against a wall, Olivia and Lukas sat closer to the fire, and Reuben and nosed his way into her lap. She wasn't sure how that had happened, but she didn't stop in reading the story.

"Goldilocks jumped up from the bed, and ran out of the house and into the forest, and all the way back home. And the three bears never saw her again. The end," Jesse announced at last, looking up from the book and meeting everyone's eyes.

There were a few moments of silence, only punctuated by the crackling of the fire. A moment later, some thunder rumbled, and the sound of rain drumming on the dirt roof hit Jesse's ears. For the most part, the dirt absorbed the rain, although there was a little that dripped through the roof.

Finally, Axel spoke up, breaking the silence.

"Can you read another one?"

* * *

"And they lived happily ever after." Jesse looked up from the book– and let out a soft laugh at the sight of all her friends being asleep.

Axel was lying on his back and snoring softly, while Olivia was lying on her side, facing the fire with her eyes shut. Her pigtails were drooping slightly in the dirt, and Jesse could see bits of redstone that hadn't washed off the last time in the wash glinting in the flickering firelight.

Lukas was hugging Sebby tightly, like you usually did with plush toys, his eyes shut as he breathed deeply. His blonde hair was... still in much the same state it had been in earlier, while Sebby just sat still from where Lukas was practically squishing him. It was actually kind of cute how he was curled up on the opposite side of the fire from Olivia.

Jesse watched them all sleep with a small grin, before it faded and she looked back down at the book.

Carefully, she reached out and flipped through the pages, the whisper of paper through her fingers soft enough that she didn't worry about waking anyone up. Finally, she found the page she was looking for.

 _The Steadfast Tin Soldier - del. curse._

 _Cursed because - ?_

 _Way to break curse - ?_

Jesse slowly let out a sigh. Looks like even Ivor didn't have an idea on how to break the curse.

Jesse slowly shut the fairytale book and put it back in her inventory, being careful not to just clap it shut and possibly wake them up. Then she lay down where she was, scooting away from the fire just a little more.

Reuben snorted slightly and pressed his nose into her cheek when she lay down, allowing her to pull him to her in a tight hug like he was a plush toy and not a living pig. Usually when Jesse went to bed, he just curled up next to her and refused to let her hug him– sometimes she would roll around in her sleep and one time she'd squashed him so hard that he'd squealed and she'd fallen off the bed.

But he seemed to sense that she needed some emotional support right now. With the Witherstorm, Ivor's strange behavior, that niggling feeling that _something_ was off about him, Lukas's revelation... she was _exhausted_.

"Thanks, buddy," she said softly, being careful to keep her voice low.

Reuben oinked softly and nudged her cheek again.

Jesse fell asleep to the sound of rain drumming on the top of the dirt roof and an undertone of fire crackling in the background.

* * *

 **A/N: Blah, why does this chapter bother me so much xD**

 **Welp, I updated! We have finally established Lukas's curse, had a somewhat fluffy ending, and... basically explained some stuff!**

 **Ah, so, I figure you guys should know, I have put up an Ask Blog for The Fairytale Curse! You can ask pretty much any of the characters stuff (though they will very rarely give you a straight answer unless there's little spoilers involved, so don't expect to know the plotline by asking), even the ones that haven't shown up yet! You can find it on tumblr by searching 'mcsmaskthecursed' (that's the url, too).**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **LittleAngelbun: Hello! And I'm glad you like it so far; I love writing it x3**

 **Toni42: (pats) / I'm glad you liked it, Tonibear :3 / I also love switching stuff around a little bit. That is certainly going to have a very large role a bit later in the story, haha. xD Love you~ / Indeed, much drama went down. xD**

 **LunarTheMooncake: Well, now it's blatantly obvious xD / Also, I love fairytales so much, it's a bit funny xD**

 **homeworkoverload: (laughs) / Nah, I got the first bit, just not the second. The reason I changed the name is because I'm planning something for it that would make it a bit strange if I named it Phantasmagoria. / Ah, that sucks. / It's on Netflix, you can't just watch it by yourself? / Oh... really? I thought I made it too obvious, honestly xD / (pats) / (pats again) / Nah, it's fine! Don't worry about it.**

 **CamronXTheXGamer: (points up)**

 **Dawn3546: (grins sheepishly) Well, don't worry, there'll be lots of curses. / That's correct, actually, but he says it's 'different'... / (snorts)**

 **EllieRose27: Here is the next chapter! / Le gasp xD / (points up)**

 **TheAmberShadow: That was the idea xD / Nope. He's got nothing either. / (giggles) Now THAT would've been interesting. / It's really not. I think of it like a Beanie Baby. xD / (squints) Never read DC Comics.**

 **J.M.M.: Nope it's real**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	18. An Old Story

Jesse kept glancing between Axel and Lukas, who were walking in front of her. Thankfully, neither of them seemed interested in repeating the row from the night before, but the air between them was still so tense that Jesse could practically see it thinning, thinning, until the point where it was threads clinging together about to snap.

Lukas slowly dropped back, and Axel sped up– as if the two of them were attempting to put as much space as possible between each other. Lukas's drastically altered pace made it so that he ended up walking along right next to Jesse, Sebby having changed position from Lukas's pocket to the blonde boy's shoulder. He hadn't said anything all morning, not even using his own high-pitched, squeaky voice.

Jesse decided to change that a little.

"Sorry about... all that last night," she said at last, making a slow gesture to encompass all of the unpleasantness that the previous night's events had brought upon them.

The blonde boy chuckled and let his eyes fall to the ground, blue eyes not meeting Jesse's as he stiffly put his hands in his pockets. "You don't have to be... I'm more embarrassed than anything else," he said softly. Or, well, technically _Sebby_ said softly.

 _Sheesh_ , it was amazing that Sebby could imitate Lukas's voice so closely. No wonder Jesse had never realized what exactly was off about Lukas until now.

Automatically, Jesse reached out and patted Sebby on the head a little. Sebby's voice lilted from Lukas's low, patient voice to a musically high-pitched purr. "Ooh, you're really good at this," Sebby squeaked happily, keeping the 'voice' at a relatively controlled level. "I can really see why–"

Lukas reached up with his hand automatically and pinched Sebby's face, making the plushie ocelot get cut off with his squeaky voice deteriorating into a 'mmph!' sound. It didn't sound like he was hurting Sebby or anything, though.

Which made sense, since... Sebby was a plush toy.

Jesse stifled a gentle giggle at that, letting her arm drop back to her side. "Do you do that often?" she asked, green eyes flickering up to meet Lukas's blue ones.

He smiled, the stiffness in his shoulders and face melting, softening until he looked a bit more like the Lukas Jesse actually knew. His arm, which had been bent up to squeeze Sebby's face, dropped back to his side. This was presumably so that Sebby could speak.

"You wouldn't believe how often."

"Hey!"

Jesse's head snapped around to where Olivia was standing on a raised area of land with her tiptoes suspending her a little higher. She was squinting and shading her eyes with one hand as she squinted intensely into the distance. "There's something over there!"

Automatically, the entire group– including Reuben– looked around for the 'something' that Olivia had spoken about. At that moment, they didn't see what Olivia was talking about, until Jesse realized there was a miniature cliff towering over them, enough that it probably blocked whatever Olivia was trying to point out.

Without any further ado, she walked for the cliff, examining the face of the cliff as she approached it. There were dark green plants creeping all over the ground, providing natural handholds, footholds, and crevices and edges on the otherwise quite-smooth cliff– perfect for climbing.

She gave an experimental tug to make sure it'd hold her weight, and when it didn't crumble in her grasp or break easily, she shrugged wordlessly and swung herself up into the net of vines, the springy plants bending slightly under her weight but holding themselves in place. With a grin, she hauled herself higher in a few quick movements, and pushed herself onto the top of the cliff.

And then her eyes widened, glass heart beginning to pick up the pace as she automatically reached up and touched it, absentmindedly trying to calm it down.

Because looming in front of her was a towering building that looked to be partly in ruins. But even with vines crawling over many of the available surfaces, the spiderwebs that were glistening in the light even from twenty yards away, even with some of the walls crumbling to dust, the stained glass emblem practically glowing in the light of the rising sun and the beauty of the building itself gave the structure an almost ethereal aura.

"Whoa... what is this place?" Axel wondered, hopping down from the cliff– which was a lot less steep on this end– and walking slowly towards the building. Jesse trailed after, and Olivia and Lukas trotted after them, carefully shifting their weight to avoid having any part of the ground suddenly giving out beneath them.

"It's the temple of the Order of the Stone," Lukas said, in a hushed, awed whisper.

"Are you sure?" This was Olivia, although even if Jesse hadn't been able to hear her friend's voice, she would've been able to tell it was her anyway– cautiously pessimistic, as usual.

Jesse stared up at the temple for a moment, staring at the glass emblem.

And then it clicked.

"No, he's right!" She rifled through her pockets, finding the amulet seconds later and holding it up. A simple turn of the wrist lined up the design perfectly with what was currently gleaming in the early morning sunlight. "Look."

An awed silence fell over them, before Lukas let out a low whistle, looking duly impressed. Sebby was also staring up at the temple, and even though the plush's expression didn't change, Jesse could tell that he was experiencing the same awe that was currently holding the group under a spell.

"Do you think they're in there?" Axel wondered at last, breaking the amazed silence that had settled like a fine layer of dust over the group.

Olivia reached up and thumbed the corner of her lip thoughtfully, staring at the beautiful, if somewhat-ruined building. She stood there for a moment longer, thinking, thinking...

And then she lowered her arm and gave them a smile.

"Why don't we find out?"

* * *

Jesse gently pushed a spiderweb out of the way, looking as if she were holding her breath the whole time. "Let's be... _very_ careful. I don't know how many booby traps the Order might've set in here to deter intruders."

"I like that idea," Olivia agreed, squinting through the dim, almost non-existent light as she tried to keep track of where they were. Unfortunately, with how dark it was in the room, Olivia was basically combing through the air with her hands, accidentally swatting Axel once or twice and nearly knocking Sebby off of Lukas's shoulder altogether at one point.

"And if you spot anything, call it out. We don't have much time," Jesse added, before she was nearly interrupted by Axel.

"Isn't it weird how dispensers are carved to look like spooky little faces?" The burly boy peered intently at a nearby dispenser set in the wall, inactive but still probably loaded. Actually, it was a little unsettling how close he was leaning to it. "What do you dispense, little guy?"

Lukas swallowed, seeming to forget that he and Axel were currently waging the Cold War against each other and, taking ahold of the other boy's sleeve, tugged him over a few steps so that his face wasn't point-blank next to the dispensers. "Here's an idea- let's not try to find out."

"I also like that idea," Olivia added, sliding sideways enough so that she wasn't standing right next to the dispenser.

A loud sound abruptly rang out, making Jesse jump and raise her arm to try to keep the others from just strolling straight in, green eyes darting around. Her glass heart, nestled safely in the pocket, began to beat harder. She took another, slower step in, eyes roving around for the source of the sound, for _anything_ that might've caused that sound-

The creaking of a door suddenly shattered the ominous silence that had fallen, making everyone jump at the sheer volume of it. Reuben, who'd been trembling at her ankle for the past minute, let out an alarmed squeal and bolted forwards.

"Oh-!" Jesse hastily sped up, chasing after the pig, and this seemed to trigger something so that _everyone_ was racing after them-

There was a loud _clunk_ as the floor beneath Jesse's feet dipped a bit, making the girl stagger and catch herself, eyes flickering down to see a pressure plate beneath her shoe, before there was another one seconds later and a gate came hurtling down right as Lukas dashed in, all of them freezing in place as the way out was blocked behind them. Lukas experimentally tapped the gate, but it didn't reopen.

"That's probably not a good thing," Axel said, nervously.

As if to confirm his theory, the dispensers began to make charging noises, a clear indicator that they were about to start dispensing. Jesse listened more closely, trying to figure out _exactly_ what it was that it dispensed, because who knows, maybe they just dispensed like- like potions or something-

And caught this small twanging sound.

Like a bowstring.

"Aw, c'mon, dispenser faces!" the burly boy behind her complained loudly, "I thought we were friends!"

"RUN!" Jesse shrieked, voice finally kicking in, and everyone proceeded to take this excellent piece of advice, bolting forwards just as arrows began to pepper the air, at a speed faster than any skeleton or human could achieve.

Usually, Jesse was very vocal about voicing her complaints about being as short as she was, but right now she was very happy about the fact- a good third of the arrows zipped harmlessly over her head, while the rest were aimed straight across and if she timed her dodges and bursts of speed right, she was doing pretty good at avoiding the arrows. She didn't _dare_ check around because there was the chance that she'd miss something important, trip, and then get an arrow to the head.

Finally, after what felt like hours but what had actually been about ten seconds, Jesse stumbled into a clear area, a crafting table along with all of her friends in the area. Her breathing was a little ragged from the exertion, Lukas's jacket sleeve had just gotten ripped, Olivia looked as if she'd lost a clear half-inch of hair to an arrow, and Axel's hoodie had some new holes in it. Reuben looked less nervous than before, oddly enough- but then again, they at least knew where the threat was coming from since the air was so thick with arrows that you could barely _breathe_.

Sebby didn't look perturbed at all, but then again Sebby was a plush toy, so he couldn't exactly change his expressions around. Jesse was willing to bet that he'd keep the same expression even if Lukas were to pick him up and throw him off a cliff.

Jesse caught her breath- and then let out a moan as she realized that the hallway of arrows continued in the other direction as well, going for as long as the eye could see.

"No way we're gonna be able to run through all _that_ without turning into a pincushion," she muttered, straightening back up and staring at the arrows.

Lukas's eyes narrowed as he contemplated the hallway for a moment. "We activated the dispensers with those pressure plates over there," and he lifted an arm and pointed at said pressure plate, which was by the still-shut gate. "If we can hit one of those pressure plates again, I bet that will shut them off."

Jesse glanced at the crafting table nearby. "Hmm... alright, guys, what do you have in your pockets? We might be able to craft something to hit the pressure plate." She paused sheepishly, an awkward smile spreading over her face. "Because, uh, I'm not running back over there and whacking the pressure plate again. That was stressful enough the first time."

"No, I'm with you on that," Olivia muttered in agreement, "that- that was annoying."

Lukas reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of sticks, staring at them with a frown. "I've got a few sticks from building the shelter last night," he offered at last, looking up at the others and waving his contribution around.

"Don't look at me, I'm a plush toy. I don't have anything to build with," Sebby added.

There was a short, somewhat awkward silence at that, before Olivia stuck her hands in her pockets and rummaged around for a minute. "All I've got is some flint and... a piece of string." Her contribution looked a little sad, but then again none of them had restocked any supplies the night before.

"All I've got are some feathers I picked up after the chicken machine exploded," Axel added, holding out a small fistful of feathers.

Jesse reached into her own pockets, checking the contents absentmindedly. "Okay, I've got flint and steel, a sword, that amulet... ah, and some string I picked up from fighting a spider in the woods earlier." And she put that string in the small collection of items on the floor.

"String, sticks, flint, and feathers," Olivia mumbled, staring at the items as if willing them to craft themselves into something useful.

Jesse crossed her arms, reaching up with her free hand and tapping her chin thoughtfully. Seconds ticked by... and then she picked up one stick, experimentally making a little bending motion with it. The stick was fairly flexible, bending slightly without breaking.

Sticks like that made good bows... or fishing rods.

"Hmm..." With that, Jesse picked up two more sticks and a couple of pieces of string, regarding the various items, before turning to the crafting table. Placing the sticks down, followed by the two strands of string, the ingredients shivered together and condensed into a fishing rod.

Picking up the fishing rod, Jesse turned back to face the pressure plates, narrowing her eyes and raising the fishing rod before casting out the hook.

The hook sailed across the room before clacking into the gate on the other end and dropping several feet to the floor, falling on one of the pressure plates and quickly depressing it. With a mechanical clunk, all of the dispensers abruptly shut off, leaving the hallway clear for them to walk through. Reuben let out a happy squeal.

"Alright," Lukas said, sounding relieved as he surveyed the now arrow-less hallway.

The entire group continued along the hallway, which actually wasn't as long as it had seemed when the air was thick with arrows, and soon emerged into a room that looked vaguely familiar. Another quick glance confirmed Jesse's suspicions- it looked a little like Ivor's basement.

"This must've been their enchanting room or something," Olivia murmured, running her fingers along a shelf and ending up with a solid centimeter of dust on the pads of her fingers.

"Doesn't this look a little like Ivor's creepy basement?" Axel asked, unknowingly echoing Jesse's thoughts.

Lukas leaned over, peering at the books on the shelves more closely. He was squinting to see through the dimness of the basement. "Huh. Interesting."

"What's interesting?" Jesse asked, trying to lean forward to read the titles of the books herself. It was too dark to properly read the titles of the book, but she was doing her best.

Lukas glanced back at Jesse, blue eyes meeting hers. Their faces were oddly close together at the moment. "Ah- well, there's a _lot_ of history in this room. Order of the Stone and all."

Jesse gave a mild nod, reaching up and tapping the corner of her lip. "Ah, I see."

Sebby started humming a tune. It wasn't very familiar to Jesse, but it was apparently very familiar to Lukas, because he scooted away from Jesse to avoid poking her in the eye and then reached up and pinched Sebby's face, making the humming deteriorate into an incoherent muffled sound. Funnily enough, the ocelot plush didn't attempt to tell him to stop or complain about it.

Jesse stifled a laugh at that. "Sebby, you should really stop making Lukas do that to you."

Lukas released Sebby's face and gave a little huff of laughter. "He's Sebby. He's never going to stop."

Now Jesse just couldn't help but giggle at that, giving Lukas a sympathetic, friendly pat on the back before straightening up and continuing forwards, towards a book set on a small pedestal and practically spotlighted in a golden glow.

She leaned forward, peering at the book more closely because the light was making her eyes start to water after all the dimness. "'The battle was fierce,'" she quoted from the book, slowly reading the calligraphic text within the volume. "'but the Order of the Stone emerged triumphant, saving the land and assuring that peace and prosperity would reign forever."

Lukas let out a huff of laughter, rubbing his fingers over the large rip in his sleeve. "Well," he muttered, "not exactly _forever_."

Jesse shook her head with slight amusement, rubbing a couple of tears from the light out of her eyes, and continued reading. "'These... _five_ members, _five_ friends, together, would give so much to gain their rightful place... as _five_ heroes,'" and Jesse's eyes widened as she flipped the page to see a picture of someone very familiar, someone wearing different clothes to what he'd originally worn and yet the face was so, so familiar.

"'They would author their own end,'" Jesse said slowly, as she stared at the rendered image of Ivor's face, "'they would slay a dragon.'"

* * *

 **A/N: Yes, Sebby was humming 'Kiss the Girl'.**

 **Whoooo, lots of stuff happened this chapter! Next chapter is the last one of Episode 1, which leaves us on a total of 19 chapters for Episode 1. Somehow. Yay. xD**

 **So, long time no see! The impromptu hiatus that happened was because I ended up spending about a month and a half to develop a Minecraft: Story Mode fangame called 'Trust Fall' for NaNoRenO with Toni42. I hope you guys enjoy it, and please check it out at this link here:**

 **arizaluca . itch . io / trust - fall**

 **(Just get rid of the spaces and the link should work!)**

 **Also, happy birthday to Toni42's little sister!**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **LunartheMooncake: Ahhh, thank you xD**

 **EllieRose27: Yep x3 / No, Sebby's not alive, he's just a plush toy that is magically allowed to 'live' whenever he's within a certain distance of Lukas. / She's worried about losing her friends; and she's worried that if she tells them about it, they'll think she's too much trouble to deal with and abandon her. / Thank you!**

 **TheAmberShadow: Aaaah. xD / Honestly, I would've just blinked at it and then tried to see if I was hallucinating. / (grins) / Hmm, yeah, basically. / ALL of the curses have variations and changes; it seems Ivor's just making notes about common strands. / (shrugs) Maybe you become extremely picky, or everything you do has to be done three times until it's just right. / Hehehe x3 / It's going xD**

 **Toni42: Haha, yeah, that's fun. x3 / x3**

 **D: (snorts) / Glad you like it!**

 **TheBoiTheBoiYaBoi: ... ahh... you can read Just a Game as substitute...**

 **Dawn3546: (laughs) Well, I'm glad you like it. / (winks)**

 **Destroyer: Yes, I'm doing great. Sorry, I've just been working on a game for about a month. xD**

 **Well, that's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	19. Please Hurry

There was a dead silence that filled the air, several eyes staring over Jesse's shoulder at the book themselves.

It wasn't really a _dead_ silence though- no, Jesse could feel the air becoming supercharged with shock, one hand barely resting on the surface of her glass heart as the gentle beating of her heart broke the stagnant air.

And then the silence was broken.

" _Ivor_ was a member of the Order of the Stone?" Olivia whispered, her surprise evident in her voice and eyes. "The stories never mentioned him."

Jesse ran her fingers over the pages of the book again, as if simply running her slightly-callused fingers over the words would reveal more answers. "Well, this definitely explains why Ivor seemed to have such a grudge against Gabriel," she murmured softly, eyes narrowing slightly at the pages and the accompanying picture. "And maybe would explain why he said 'I'm sorry this is how they have to learn the truth'."

Though something was _still_ off about the older man, at least in Jesse's opinion.

"This is so... crazy," Lukas breathed.

Olivia's expression darkened, surprise being replaced by betrayal and anger. "They lied to us. They- they lied to the whole _world_! Another member of the Order of the Stone- this is huge. The Order of the Stone are the people who defeated the witch's first monstrosity. They inadvertently caused the Fairytale Curse. If Ivor was the member that caused that-"

"But that doesn't make sense. I mean, if he really _did_ cause the whole thing, you'd think they keep him _in_ the stories and all point their fingers at him," Axel pointed out, scratching his head. "But they just kinda... axed him out altogether."

"This is so crazy," Lukas repeated, Sebby turning his little plush head to look at Lukas and nudging his bead nose against the blonde's cheek after saying this. Lukas finally snapped out of the daze he'd fallen into and gave Sebby a weak smile.

Jesse let out a deep sigh, letting her hand fall off the book. "Well, the Order might've lied. We still need their help if we're going to defeat this- this _Witherstorm._ Petra is still out there- that _monster_ is still out there. People are... dying." She lowered her eyes to the floor, feeling a twinge of pain in her chest. "We can't just leave that alone and get angry at the Order for lying about something."

"Jesse's right," Lukas said softly, nodding as he pulled himself together a little more, taking a deep breath and letting the tension seep out of his shoulders. "We should focus on what we came here to do."

Olivia obviously didn't seem too pleased about this, but she at least appeared to agree, because she glanced around the room for a minute before gesturing at a staircase that seemed to lead to a second floor. "Well, where do you think these stairs go, then?" she asked, looking up the staircase as if she was trying to see up the thing.

"Up."

Olivia's expression cracked into a reluctant smile, and the dark-skinned girl rolled her eyes at Jesse. "Wow, Jesse. What an insightful commentary. I can feel the mysteries of the universe unravelling at those epiphany-causing words."

Jesse giggled at the sarcasm, relieved to see that at least Olivia still had a fairly intact sense of humor. "Indeed, I've been told that I'm a very inspiring person," she joked back, being rewarded with a less-reluctant chuckle from her friend before clapping her hands together, brow furrowing. "Well, we don't know where they go- besides up, of course- but there's only one way to find out."

And with that, she hopped onto the first step and trekked up the stairs.

The moment her head popped above the last step and she could see the second floor, Jesse's mouth dropped open an inch. "Oh, wow..." she whispered, stepping into what looked like the ruins of a huge room. There was a huge, yellowing map on the wall with dim colored lanterns surrounding it. The stone walls were crumbling, and indeed one of them seemed to have crumbled away altogether. Vines were crawling over almost every surface, spiderwebs filled the holes forming into the floor, the ceiling was only half-there, and the sun was glowing as it slowly inched across the sky towards the west.

They must've spent more time than they'd expected looking around inside.

"Ohhh... this is beautiful," Jesse breathed, looking around and gently pushing aside a curtain of vines hanging off to the side as she surveyed the room. She couldn't for the _life_ of her imagine how it had looked before it ended up like this, but even in this dilapidated state, the room- or, at least, the area- still gave off a feeling of ethereal beauty.

"You said it, dude. Wonder what happened to the walls, though."

Jesse gave a little laugh, running her fingers over the stone walls and feeling pebbles and bits of stone come off with the gentlest touch. "More like what happened to this whole place, Axel." Letting her hand drop back to her side, Jesse took out the amulet, giving it a little wave in the air. "Okay, Gabriel said the amulet would guide us, but I'm not sure he meant that _literally_. More likely there's some sort of... machine or something that should help us."

Lukas nodded, tapping his chin. "Let's check around, then. Spread out and look around, and if we find anything... well, we can just shout, I guess. It's not like this place is _that_ big."

Jesse could see Axel's expression darkening slightly as Lukas took charge a little bit again. She decided now was not the time to deal with this, thought fast, and came up with an idea.

I mean, it wasn't a _good_ idea. But it was an idea.

With that, Jesse scooped Reuben up, and, with a hastily whispered apology, tossed him at Axel. "Axel! We're playing Reuben Ball now!"

'Reuben Ball' was a joking game that Axel had invented several years ago, when he'd been in a bad mood one day and tossed the nearest thing at Jesse when she interrupted something he was doing. Unfortunately, the nearest thing was Reuben, and Jesse practically clonked her head into a bookshelf to keep Reuben from hitting something and injuring himself.

Promptly, Axel's bad mood dissipated as he pointed out that Reuben was about the size of a ball. And so, 'Reuben Ball' was invented.

The game wasn't very sophisticated- you started out with three points and just started tossing Reuben around, trying to make sure everyone caught him. If Reuben hit a hard surface while you were catching him, you lost a point, if he hit something soft, like carpet, you lost half a point, and if he hit a hard _edge_ you immediately lost the game and Jesse would fuss over him for the rest of the day. Catching Reuben safely wouldn't make you lose any points. They usually played this on rainy days when they couldn't go outside without getting soaked to kingdom come.

Olivia almost always joined in, even though they never played it often.

Come to think of it, maybe that was _why_ she almost always joined in, actually.

Axel's mouth had started opening, but he instantly snapped it shut, spun to face Jesse, and caught Reuben without any trouble. "Olivia!" And he tossed the squealing pig (Reuben was grinning slightly. He really liked this game for some reason. He couldn't handle being thrown long distances, but about the length of the treehouse was fine for him) to Olivia, who nearly fumbled him but managed to secure her grip on the pig before she could drop him.

"Is now really the time for this? Here, Lukas," and Olivia tossed Reuben in Lukas's direction.

Lukas was probably incredibly confused by this sudden turn of events (not to mention he probably had no idea what 'Reuben Ball' was), but he dove forward anyway, landing hard on his stomach and barely managing to catch Reuben before he hit the floor, all the breath in his body getting knocked clean away. He mouthed something breathlessly, Sebby translating as quickly as he could. "Jesse, catch!"

Jesse nodded and raised her hands, Reuben soaring through the air and landing solidly in her hands. "There we go! Sorry, buddy, that was a bit random. I think that's a good idea, Lukas," and she set Reuben down gently on the ground. "There's not much up here, so if you see anything interesting, just holler."

Everyone nodded at Jesse's words- even Lukas, who was still desperately trying to breathe on the floor- and scattered throughout the room.

Jesse walked over to where Lukas was sprawled on the floor, giving him a sheepish smile. "Um, sorry about that. You alright?" And she extended her hand to Lukas to help him up.

Lukas managed a soft sound that was completely incoherent and incomprehensible, but hey, he tried. Reaching up, he took Jesse's hand and let her haul him back to his feet. "Th... thanks," he finally managed, once his lungs recovered from slamming into the floor.

"Well, it _is_ my fault you ended up on the floor anyway, so I really should help you out." Giving him a solid pat on the back, she gave him a wry smile. "Sorry again."

"Oh, it's fine. I mean, I'm confused and totally having breathing problems now, but nothing permanently damaged. You're good." Lukas gave Jesse a little smile and a pat on the back, his hand lingering on her shoulder a second longer than was necessary. Crap, had he landed on the ground harder than Jesse thought? He _did_ hit the ground pretty hard.

"You sure? Nothing broken?" Jesse poked him in the side, making Lukas chuckle oddly.

"Well, nothing _feels_ broken, so I assume so."

Sebby suddenly switched back to his normal voice. "Well, I mean, you might have-"

Lukas's hand came up so fast that he nearly sent Sebby flying off of his shoulder altogether, pinching Sebby's mouth shut as tightly as humanly possible. Looking back at Jesse, he gave her a sheepish smile and a thumbs' up, before moving off into the room to look around.

Jesse rolled her eyes with a grin and glanced around- before her eyebrow went up. There was a white flag nearby, a sewn version of the amulet blazened across it. The flag was attached to this sort of wooden pedestal, and there was a wooden frame on top of the wooden pedestal that looked like it was created to support something round with irregular protrusions.

Something like... the amulet...

Jesse looked at the amulet, the gems in it glinting and flashing, before walking over to the structure and popping it inside. The gems made the sun's rays wink into her eyes, making her wince slightly and avert her eyes, clambering away to avoid getting blinded.

She already had a glass heart. She didn't need to go blind.

Avoiding a very large hole in the floor, Jesse came to a table with five levers and a lantern at the center, all of the levers in what seemed to be the 'off' position. Jesse flicked the nearest lever, and three of the colored lanterns next to the map lit up, glowing green, red, and white, like a Christmas tree.

Jesse mentally marked down the three lanterns that lit up, before trying all of the other lanterns and keeping track of which ones turned on which lanterns. Once all of the levers were back in the off position, Jesse walked along the table again, flipping all of the switches into the on position, before flipping the second and fourth levers back off.

The colored lanterns all lit up, and the lantern in the center of the table lit up, a beam of light shooting out of it and going into the middle gem of the amulet. Instantly, the green and red beams shot out their own light, roving around the map before settling in two different areas, emitting very contrasting but somehow very nice glows.

"Okay," Olivia murmured, as Jesse stepped back in front of the pedestal with the amulet on it, one eyebrow arching up, " _now_ I'm impressed."

"I guess this is what Gabriel meant... it's showing the members of the Order of the Stone, I assume," Jesse mumbled, before her eyebrows furrowed. "... there's only two lights, though. There are only... two members left?"

She must've sounded a little worried, because Lukas reached up and squeezed her shoulder. "I mean... we don't really know anything about how the map works. It might not show them when they're in the End, or the Nether. For all we know, Soren's in the End or the Nether, and Gabriel is the same."

Jesse looked back at the map, heartbeat perking up a little bit.

A little bit.

"That's true. If there are only two heroes that we know the definitive location of... then we know what we have to do." Jesse turned back to Axel, Olivia, Lukas, and Reuben, trying to keep her voice even and not start doing a vibrato. "Petra's relying on us, that Witherstorm's still out there, and people are getting hurt. Gabriel was trying to tell me to find the members of the Order of the Stone, at least the ones I _could_ find. So... I think the only options we have are..."

Jesse looked back up at the map, debating for a moment, before pointing at the red light. "Ellegaard..." Now the green light. "And Magnus."

"I can't go with you guys."

Four startled pairs of eyes travelled to Lukas, who had stopped pinching Sebby's mouth shut and was now fiddling with Sebby's tail nervously. "If there's a chance Petra's still out there, I have to make this place fortified and safe by nightfall. If I know her, she's doing everything she can to find this place."

The blonde paused, before giving them a weak smile. "Um, this temple's pretty big though... maybe one of you could stay behind and help me?"

Jesse bit her lip, reaching up and tightening her grip over her heart, feeling the beat through the fragile glass surface.

To go to where Magnus was could entail of danger. A _lot_ more danger than Jesse might be able to handle. Especially if she had to be this careful with her heart.

Going to where Ellegaard was might also result in more danger than Jesse could handle. She wasn't an expert on any of the Order members. _Yes_ she was a fan of them, but she wasn't like some of the more hardcore fans and didn't keep tabs on every single member ( _not every single, Ivor's technically a member too_ ) of the Order in her spare time.

Not to mention, going to either place would involve Jesse going through the Nether again. She'd tested her luck to the limit yesterday. She wasn't in the mood to try again today.

"I can stay." Axel and Olivia, looking startled, immediately began to protest, but Jesse cut them off. "No, listen. This way you guys can go after both heroes, especially because you guys are so much more... knowledgeable when it comes to them? I'd barely know anything about Ellegaard _or_ Magnus if you guys didn't tell me about them. Besides, I... _am_ a bit better at just normal building than you guys are. Olivia's more redstone-y, and Axel's more of a griefer."

"Well..." Axel bit his lip. "Are you sure, Jesse?"

Jesse nodded, touching her heart and feeling the glass surface tremor even more. "Yeah... it's probably for the best, anyway. Knowing me, I'd just be super clumsy and slow you guys down. Also, they might be more receptive to having someone they understand more than someone who looks like she's 12 explain the situation."

The mood instantly lightened a little, and Olivia chuckled despite herself. "Well, you _do_ look pretty young."

"I know that, but that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it." Jesse tapped her lip, before frowning at the two. "Hey, just asking- who do you think would be less likely to believe you guys if you just went up and explained the situation?"

Axel and Olivia exchanged thoughtful glances, Olivia reaching up and pinching her bottom lip between her fingers. "Hmmm... well, Magnus _is_ a griefer. He'd probably be more paranoid if someone approached him and tried to explain." The redstone-engineer-in-training glanced at Axel, arching her eyebrow slightly. "Especially if that somebody looked like Axel."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you act and look a _lot_ like a griefer, Axel. A milder one than the ones that I've met, but definitely a griefer to the core, Axel," Jesse said cheerfully, without skipping a beat. The burly boy puffed his chest up with pride, making Olivia roll her eyes with a grin.

Lukas frowned, before glancing at Olivia. "Well, Ellegaard _is_ a redstone engineer... she might not believe you, and if she's busy doing something else, it might be really hard to convince her to come with you. And Axel... no offense, but you seem a lot more like a kid than most griefers. Definitely more trustworthy."

Axel paused, thinking Lukas's words over. "... thanks, I think?"

Jesse bit her lip, before popping the amulet out of the structure- the lights fizzled out as she did so- and holding it out to Olivia. "Take it with you."

"What?" Olivia looked even more startled than when Jesse suggested that she stay back. "Are- are you sure, Jesse?"

"Yeah... Lukas has a point. Axel _does_ look and act a lot like a griefer, but he's definitely a lot more innocent-seeming, so Magnus might just listen. On the other hand, if Ellegaard was busy doing something, you might need something to convince her that you're telling the truth and not just an attention-seeker or something."

Olivia paused at this explanation, before her expression solidified into a resolute one, and she accepted the amulet. "I guess that makes sense."

Jesse nodded with a small smile.

And then Lukas made a sound that drew her attention to him. His face had suddenly gone a shade or two paler, blue eyes wider. "Um... guys?"

A roar of thunder rolled through the sky, making Jesse automatically look around to see where the storm was- and then her shoulders tensed, Reuben letting out a startled squeal at her feet.

A hundred meters away- maybe a little farther- a dark cloud was blotting out the sun, tentacles writhing and squirming as they slowly climbed into the air, glowing indigo eye visible from even here.

"Please hurry."

* * *

 **A/N: Yooo, long time no update on this story! New twist, Jesse's just decided to stay behind, so we get to see a little more interaction and... stuff. I dunno. xD I just felt like this was more logical than Jesse going to Boom Town, and of course if she doesn't know much about Redstonia, she's not going to go.**

 **So next update will be one of my other stories. Composite, HCM, Just a Game, or Minecraft: Normal Mode. (Possibly my Ninjago one. I dunno) It will come next Wednesday, as my usual updates are now, so please look forward to it!**

 **Second thing, I have a weird update schedule. On Mondays, I will answer Tumblr asks (by the way, if you're not already following my Tumblr and you have an account, I would recommend following it. It's just Ariza Luca on there as well) and possibly write a oneshot fic for there. On Wednesdays, I'll update a fanfiction on here. On Fridays, I will upload a YouTube video to, well, YouTube.**

 **Third thing will be announced on HCM next update.**

 **Okay, before I get into the actual responses to reviews, I have a thing to say.**

 **TheBoiTheBoiYaBoi: The review that you left was _incredibly_ rude and I do not accept reviews like that on stories; therefore I have deleted it. My suggestion of 'Just a Game' meant that no, I am not going to make a new Minecraft Story Mode Hide and Seek story. Furthermore, making a rude review like that would've put me off of making the story at all if I _had_ wanted to make it. You should also check the review you want to send before actually sending it because there were a lot of typos that kept me from actually understanding what the _heck_ you were trying to say. Another thing, do not tell me to 'f*ck off'. First off, I didn't actually do anything to warrant that type of behavior and if I had a shorter temper, I'd probably have given you a much ruder reply than this. Also, I believe you have me mixed up with Toni42. He is the one from Italy, not me. I have never lived in Italy in my life, nor have I ever _been_ there. If you want someone to update a story or create one, I suggest being polite in the future.**

 **Okay, sorry about that to everyone else. I just don't like rude people.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **LunarTheMooncake: LOL xD / Yes, update. xD**

 **The Princess of Pink: She will reveal her secret when she reveals her secret xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: ? Sorry, I have no idea what we're talking about 'xD / Oh wow xD / Sebby is a wonderful plush xD / Mine is even worse, so don't worry about it xD / Hahaha, well, it was more like a direct quote from the actual game, but I do personally also like that myself. / A cuter, ocelot, not-as-grouchy Sebastian, yes. xD**

 **ShiningHopeBeast: Well, I _did_ sort of... fib a bit on that. There is a LITTLE Lukesse. Maybe. Kind of? / Haha, I love that conversation. Even without Lukesse, I'm so putting that in xD**

 **NoItsBecky: All of the ship fans are going to hate my guts when we reach a certain part of this story**

 **DIAna29SD: Ahh, that was sort of an accident. Fanfiction doesn't like it when you type names like that apparently. xD But D is a nice nickname, I agree. / Ahh, thank you! I'm really glad you like it. / Computer; Mac, Linux or PC I'm pretty sure. / No, I haven't downloaded it yet. I've heard it's a good game, though.**

 **CremeDeLaMeme: I have no idea what 'that m T' is, but sure? xD**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	20. Day 1: Collecting, Night 1: A Surprise

The first day mostly consisted of Jesse and Lukas gathering materials, with Jesse holding her sword at the ready and making sure nothing snuck up on Lukas or her while he was up in a tree collecting wood or stone or redstone or whatever material he randomly remembered while harvesting. Occasionally they'd switch and Jesse would collect some materials.

These occasions, Jesse noticed, usually involved climbing very high up into a tall tree or crawling into small areas that Lukas would be unable to squeeze into. Sebby kept up a rather consistent flow of chatter whenever Jesse and Lukas weren't awkwardly exchanging words.

Awkwardly.

So between Jesse asking Lukas questions about his curse that he never actually outright answered...

* * *

 _"How'd you get your curse exactly? Why'd a witch curse you?" Jesse asked, while trying not to outright die from where she was winding around a tree and tugging at branches carefully._

 _"Oh, uh... you know..."_

 _Jesse turned to stare blankly at the blonde boy, who was really just a yellow speck on the ground from how high up she was in this tree at this point. She waited a few moments for an answer, but when it seemed that no more was forthcoming, she simply called back down, "No, I don't know. That's why I asked."_

 _An awkward cough floated up to where Jesse was snapping this branch off the tree. Thankfully, it came off easily- otherwise Jesse would've had to yank harder or use her sword, and goodness knows how many mishaps you can have when you're who-knows-how-high-up in a tree with a sharp object. "Uh... you know. The main reason most witches curse people nowadays, I guess."_

 _"I really, really doubt that, Lukas. You're pretty nice to people, so I can't see a witch getting annoyed enough at you that she- or he, I guess," Jesse added quickly, because there_ were _a few male witches, if not that many,_ _"would curse you."_

 _When there was no answer, Jesse looked back down at the ground again. She couldn't see Lukas directly, but she was_ pretty _sure that the little yellow blob on the ground had turned a faint shade of pink as well. And it definitely wasn't Reuben, since he was a distinct pink dot next to Lukas._

 _"Are you blushing?" she shouted down to him._

 _Yes, Jesse. How sensitive and kind you are._

 _"Ye-" Sebby's high-pitched voice was promptly cut off by a loud_ _"NO" from Lukas._

 _Jesse had to hide a grin at that. Easy to do when you're about twenty feet taller than the guy you're trying to hide it from._

* * *

... and Lukas awkwardly coming up with weird trivia questions like Olivia would ask and randomly asking them while collecting materials...

* * *

 _"So if your house caught on fire and you'd have to save one thing in it, what would you save?"_

 _Jesse didn't even have to think about this question to know the answer. Nor did she pause to wonder why Lukas was now randomly asking this question- this was the fourth time he'd done this today. "Reuben."_

 _Reuben gave a rather pleased oink at her answer._

 _"Okay but if Reuben and Axel and Olivia weren't in there." Lukas glanced over his shoulder, peeking blue eyes over Sebby as Sebby lounged on Lukas's shoulder. He was being rather careful not to accidentally whack his own hand with the pickaxe in it._

 _"... my bookshelf, with my books in it. I'd throw it out the window."_

 _Sebby promptly made a sound that sounded remarkably like a snort at this answer. Lukas absentmindedly reached up and pinched Sebby's face, cutting the snort off into a muffled, incoherent protest. A few moments later, he released it and gave Jesse an odd smile. "Would your bookshelf fit through the window?"_

 _"... myself? There's really not that much in my house that I couldn't just craft again."_

 _Lukas gave an understanding hum. "Yeah, that's fair."_

 _"I'd jump out the window too, though. I'm not going to climb down a ladder hoping it's not already starting to burn when my house is on fire."_

 _Lukas promptly whipped back around making a sound that was a mix between a sneeze, a cough, and a hysterical laugh, resuming mining away at the tiny piece of redstone that he'd found in the wall with a little more zeal than really necessary._

* * *

... it wasn't exactly what one would consider _too_ awkward.

Nighttime fell, and Jesse stacked the iron door in front and let out a satisfied sigh at the wood and stone that now made up the front door- mainly because wood looked more friendly than all stone. And there was also a very nice piece of redstone that was above the door. Jesse'd always liked the color red. It could make things look quite cheerful.

Or violent.

At least she could hear that most of the weird mobs were _outside_ and not inside.

"Okay... let's see, we've got a few redstone pieces left, we have a _crap_ ton of coal and sticks so we've got plenty to make torches," Lukas muttered, checking through the materials that they'd managed to collect through the day, "and... uh, looks like we found a few random pieces of flint and iron. I guess we _could_ make some extra flints and steels..."

The very words that he spoke made Jesse shiver a little bit. No. No thank you. Nothing that could set her on fire easily, thank you very much. Torches were bad enough, but they were necessary. No thank you to flints and steels.

"Uhh, why not make weapons instead? It never hurts to have some extra arrows or swords or whatever," she offered, already feeling her heart speed up from where it was nestled in that pocket at her chest. "And I bet some of the others don't have weapons- it's not like they'd have time to, what with wandering around trying to find Magnus and Ellegaard."

Lukas's expression changed from thoughtful to almost enlightened. A smile crept over his face. "Oh yeah. And we could make bows and arrows. Long-range weapons would be good." He glanced at the darkening sky through the window of the iron door, frowning thoughtfully. "Hmm... I guess one of us should keep watch in case one of them comes back?"

"You go craft stuff or get some sleep- we can trade off in a few hours," Jesse said, giving him a reassuring grin and pulling out the golden sword Petra had given her back at Endercon. "I've got stuff handled here."

The blonde hesitated, blue eyes meeting her own green ones. "Are you sure? I can stay here with you for a bit." His voice had softened into concern and that tone that she _still couldn't quite identify_ yet.

Jesse gave him a friendly thumbs' up, making Lukas's lips quirk up into a wry smile. "Yeah. Just come back in..." Jesse considered the time for a moment, knowing that there was a clock in the main lab where she assumed Lukas'd be working. "Three hours?"

"Two," Lukas countered, Sebby's head turning to look at Lukas out of sheer amusement at the faintly argumentative tone in the blonde's voice. (Reuben seemed amused as well, although Jesse really couldn't tell why for the life of her.)

"You need sleep too," he amended, when he noticed Jesse's raised eyebrow.

Well, two could play at this game.

"Two and a half."

"Two and a quarter," he insisted.

"Two and a half or I'm staying up all night," Jesse said, jokingly shaking her sword at him in a mock-threatening way. She'd pulled all-nighters before. She knew she could do it.

Lukas huffed out a falsely indignant laugh. "All right, all right, you win. But two and a half hours. Not one more _second_ than 150 minutes even," he said, pointing at her and arching his eyebrow at her.

Jesse rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mother," she teased.

Lukas slapped her on the back almost playfully, forcing a little giggle out of her, and he gave her a returned huff of laughter before heading back down the corridor, clicking heels on stone fading away after a few moments, leaving Jesse with a torch in the doorway, a peephole through the window, Reuben curled up at her feet, and the fairytale book tucked in her pocket.

Reuben shot a look at her that, she was surprised to realize, she couldn't understand. That was weird. Usually she could identify _every_ look that Reuben gave her and every meaning he was trying to give her through his eyes and face. But this one was new.

"What?"

He stared at her, Jesse looking back at him for a few moments. "It's... it's not weird that I'm being friendly with Lukas? You're okay with it?" she asked him hesitantly, after a moment or two.

Reuben shook his head a little, although he did give an oink to indicate that something she'd said was right.

"Uh, is it about Lukas then?"

Oink yes.

"Oh. Uh... what about Lukas?"

It took Reuben several seconds to finally snort and just butt his head up against her leg, cuddling into his owner with a sound that sounded suspiciously like his version of a 'Never mind'.

Maybe it wasn't important then?

Several moments of silence lapsed into minutes, which lapsed into an hour.

The moans of zombies penetrated the iron door, the occasional monster with rotted flesh ambling towards the door before losing interest and wandering away.

Occasionally there was the hiss of a creeper or the clatter of a skeleton's bones, but for the most part the night was oddly silent.

Jesse had long lost the fear of hearing monsters outside her home- they always were outside. It's that sort of thing you got used to and yet kept an eye on just because... well, getting too familiar with monsters can get you killed.

So, she wasn't really worried about hearing the monsters roaming around outside of the Order's temple, making low moans or hisses accompanied by a series of four feet padding against grass or the click of bone against nothing but bone and the creeping sounds of spiders.

And without any real worry, there was absolutely nothing to break the monotony of the sounds outside.

In fact, it wasn't until around the last three minutes of Jesse's 'shift' that she heard something out of the ordinary. She strained to hear it, hearing the groans and clattering and the hissing and the strangled hisses of spiders being cut off by... footsteps? Pounding footsteps on grass. Like somebody was running.

The occasional yelp or screech or angry gurgle of a monster as metal swished through the air, followed by a resounding _poof_ that drowned out more monster noises.

Jesse pressed her face into the little window, feeling the iron press into her face a little as her green eyes darted around, searching for the sources of the sounds that broke the monotony of the night. At first, there was nothing, except for a few zombies roaming around and that spider scaling a wall and that dark shadow emerging at the corner of her peripheral vision from the forest-

Hang on.

Jesse's eyes snapped back to the dark shadow, who was beginning to crunch through foliage and really make noise, before bursting into the clearing and racing for the door. It was still too dark to make out any distinguishing features, although the moonlight was beginning to reflect off of some of the choppy, short hair that looked like it had been cut with a sword.

The choppy, short, _red hair_ that looked like it had been cut with a sword.

Jesse pressed into the iron door a little more, dark blue and pale blue and white and black vest and brown boots beginning to show in the light of the torch they'd set outside-

"Petra?"

This came out as a whisper, before Jesse abruptly jerked away from the window, making Reuben squeal in surprise as her leg suddenly moved away from him, fingers fumbling at the wall for the lever she'd stuck in, or was it a button, no it was a lever because there was that bar that Jesse's fingers tightened on and jerked down, making a thudding noise as the iron door sprang open for a moment, allowing the tall figure to barrel in before slamming the door back shut before anything could make its way through.

In the nick of time, too, because an arrow clinked into the door moments later.

Jesse wasn't paying attention to that, though, she was whirling around to see the familiar red hair and bandana and vest over a blue-and-white t-shirt stumble to a stop, looking for all intents and purposes like she'd sprinted the whole way there, a huge grin curling at her lips. " _Petra!_ " she nearly _shouted_ , and she was abruptly sprinting forward and throwing her arms around the redhead in the tightest hug she'd ever given.

Of course, Petra was caught off-guard by the abrupt hug, hands flying up and automatically wrapping around Jesse's torso and almost spinning Jesse around from the force of it as her eyes reflected gold in the light of the torch, irises flicking around in alarm before settling on Jesse. "J-Jess-!"

And then the spin ended up not being enough and Petra fell backwards and landed on her bum, Jesse's arms still around her friend's neck from where she'd tackled Petra in a hug, Petra's startled expression melting into a rather relieved grin. "Oh, _man_ , glad to see you're okay."

"Ditto!" Jesse grinned, pulling away from Petra a little bit, as Reuben gave a happy squeal and practically galloped around the two of them, having recovered from his surprise and looking happy to be there.

Petra grinned and reached out to rub the pig's ears as well, her glove resting on Reuben's head. "Good to see you too, buddy," she said, voice softening a bit.

"Jesse? What the heck..." Lukas's voice cut off as he entered the room at a speed that most people would not be willing to enter a room at, an iron sword in his own hand, before a huge, relieved smile spread across his face. "Petra! You're alright!"

He sheathed the sword and practically skidded so that he was on his knees next to her, kind of dragging them both into a weird group hug. This made Jesse laugh slightly and adjust her grip so that she was holding them both in the hug as well, one hand resting on Lukas's shoulder and the other on Petra's back.

Petra reached up after a few moments, one hand wrapping around Jesse and the other wrapping around Lukas in a tight hug, a grateful smile tugging her lips up.

She was back.

* * *

 **A/N: And Petra is alive! And... seemingly unscathed.**

 **Hey, Jesse and Lukas sorta got to know each other, and are chummier and not just like "so hi" with each other xD**

 **So as some of you may already know from other stories, I'm in my senior year of high school, and planning to apply to art school. And to do so, I have to get my portfolio ready. As of right now... I have little to nothing I'd be comfortable with showing colleges when I apply; not to mention that these art schools are REALLY high level. (Except for one but I still want to take that one really seriously.) I'm also working on Fata Morgana (formerly known as Phantasmagoria) and a few other projects.**

 **I'm... not ready at all, so from now until sometime around early December, I will probably rarely surface on here. (Not that I've been doing that recently, sorry! I've been busy.) When I DO come on, updates will be very sporadic. Please don't be surprised if I don't reappear on here until after that early December deadline- I am going to be _snowed under_ with portfolio preparation, not to mention my last year of high school.**

 **But I hope you guys'll stick around through a few months of inactivity- I really am glad that you guys have enjoyed my stories so far!**

 **Uh, back to Fairytale Curse- whenever I DO update, I will come up with theory hints so that your theories aren't just willy-nilly. I'm interested to see what you get out of the hints xD**

 **Theory hint: Witches and fairies are able to see that people are cursed.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **CremeDeLaMeme: Ahh, memes. Of course. xD / Oof, that sounds annoying. Well, I'm glad you sort of found an alternative? xD / 'They' being who?**

 **The Princess of Pink: All curses in that world are eventually broken, if not necessarily in the story.**

 **LunartheMooncake: It literally came out of nowhere- I was like "DISTRACTION" and threw in the first thing I thought of xD / NO xD I don't even remember what he was talking about, honestly. xD / That, and also Boom Town and the correlation between safety for glass is about nonexistent xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: Ahhh, okay! / Lol, literally I have no idea. I was like "uh we need to distract Axel, what's distracting? That's distracting! Okay don't think about this!" and stuck it in xD / Yeeees, I realized T^T / ... I have no idea what he was planning on saying, actually xD / Uhhh, the other routes are more entertaining? xD / Axel's going to Boom Town. Olivia's going to Redstonia with the amulet.**

 **ShiningHopeBeast: Surprisingly not that much. He's not a saboteur. Plus he really only enjoys teasing Lukas xD / Mostly with Jesse, unless there's ever a reason to switch over.**

 **AquaK13: Well, sort of xD / Pft. That's why if he hit a hard edge the game is immediately aborted xD / Lol xD / Haha, yeah. I feel like Jesse's an emotional thinker who'll occasionally abandon emotional thinking for actual logic- depending on the situation. / Either that or Sebby will attempt to be a mischievous little butt and Reuben's just there. / No. She is _very_ careful with that, regardless of who she's speaking about it with. Her fear of being abandoned is worse than the stress that comes from pretending that things are okay.**

 **LittleAngelbun: Mostly toughen up the doorway, although this is only Day/Night 1. xD**

 **Takawari-Senju-SD29: Ah, alright. Nice to see you! / Aha, glad you liked the chapter xD**

 **Welp, that looks like it's all for now.**

 **See ya, so long, and g'bye for a few months!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


End file.
